Coach Joel Walton said if his players needed any more motivation for their road match Saturday against Penn State University, they got it Monday.
In the coaches poll released Monday, Penn State received the No. 1 ranking, setting up the No. 7 Ball State University men's volleyball team's first match against a No. 1 ranked team since the 2002 Final Four.
"Any time you got any competitors on a team, they look forward to the chance to play top teams, and our guys are looking forward to go out and play," Walton said. "It's going to be fun to go and play in a great match environment."
Penn State (21-1, 10-1 Eastern Volleyball Intercollegiate Association) received 229 votes in the coaches poll - one more vote than No. 2 California State University Northridge, which tied Penn State for first place in last week's poll. Ball State (16-6, 9-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) remains at No. 7 for the third straight week, receiving one less vote in this week's poll.
Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said his team does not pay too much attention to its ranking because it is the middle of the season. He also said he is looking forward to Saturday's match against Ball State.
"Saturday is going to be another great knockdown match between the Nittany Lions and Cardinals," Pavlik said.
The last time Ball State defeated a No. 1 ranked team was in 1995, when the Cardinals swept No. 1 UCLA in the Volleyball Hall of Fame Tournament.
Walton said he is not surprised Penn State earned the No. 1 ranking. He also said all pressure is on Nittany Lions because they are ranked higher.
"The surprise should be for us to win," Walton said. "It is one of those matches people will look at with a curiosity to see if we compete with Penn State. If we can compete with Penn State that is going to be the surprise. If we go and lose three easy games, than people are going to say 'well that what we expect.'"
Saturday will be the third time this season the Cardinals have played the Nittany Lions. Penn State swept Ball State at the Outrigger Invitational on Jan. 5 and won in four games Jan. 18 at Worthen Arena.
Since its last match against Penn State, Ball State has won 15 of 16 matches and is on a 11-match winning streak. In addition, the Cardinals beat a nationally ranked team five times during the winning streak.
"I know that our team is playing better now than earlier in the year," Walton said.
The Nittany Lions are on a three-match winning streak and have clinched the EIVA regular season championship.
Prior to Saturday's match against Ball State, Penn State will play Juniata College at 7 p.m. and No. 10 Ohio State University on Friday.
Pavlik said his team has not started preparing for this weekend's matches because of the Juniata match, but he said he knows what to expect for both MIVA teams.
"Anytime you get a Buckeye or a Cardinal in your gym you got to be prepared to play some good volleyball because they are going to be walking into our gym shrugging their shoulders ready to play," he said.
Coaches Poll
1. Penn State(7) 21-12. Cal State Northridge(7) 17-43. Long Beach State(2) 19-34. BYU 17-45. Pepperdine 10-86. Stanford 14-77. Ball State 16-68. UCLA 14-109. UC Irvine 11-1210. Ohio State 12-611. George Mason 14-612. USC 10-1313. Hawai'i 10-1114. UC Santa Barbara 8-1215. Lewis 16-7
*Parentheses indicate first-place votes
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