The Ball State University men's volleyball team will play against the Ball State Alumni team at 7 p.m. Saturday in Worthen Arena for its final game of the preseason.
The Cardinals enter this match after going 2-1 in the Preview to the Final Four Tournament, with wins over Rutgers-Newark University and the Collegiate All-Stars.
For coach Joel Walton, one of the biggest areas of concern this preseason has been working freshmen setters Ethan Pheister and Jeff Schmitz into the team's offense.
"It's going to take them a while to caught up," Walton said. "Even though we haven't won all the games this preseason, it was necessary to play these games so they will be ready for the regular season. We have a good supporting cast around them, and they just need to become more consistent."
The Alumni team is made up of 18 former Cardinal players, with the oldest member of the team being Eric Sullivan, who played from 1993-97.
Also playing for the Alumni are Paul Fasshauer and Keith Schunzel. Fasshauer holds the school's single-season record for kill percentage and was named a first team All-American in 2002. Schunzel is in third place on Ball State's all-time assists list with 5,558 and was a second team All-American in 2004.
"We have a good Alumni group, and they are a strong team capable of winning," Walton said.
This game will also put former Cardinal teammates on opposite sides of the net, and in the case of four current Ball State players, they will play against their former select team coaches.
"These guys want to get a kill or ace against their former coach," Walton said. "[These players] want the chance to give them that stare from across the net, and get back at them for torturing them at practice."
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