Sitting on the team bus traveling to Muncie on Sunday after finishing 1-1 during a Pennsylvania road trip, coach Joel Walton said he was glad his No. 6 Ball State University men's volleyball team had two more matches before playing No. 10 Ohio State University.
Less than one week before playing the Buckeyes (13-7, 8-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) for a chance to win the conference regular-season championship, the Cardinals (17-7, 9-1 MIVA) will use this weekend's non-conference matches to fix their offense, Walton said. Ball State will play home matches against Rutgers-Newark University at 7:30 p.m. and No. 12 George Mason University on Saturday.
"We were not very good offensively last weekend so we want to get in synch against Rutgers Friday night and have that carry over to the Mason match," Walton said.
In a three-game loss to No. 1 Penn State University and sweeping St. Francis University last weekend, the Cardinals averaged a .211 attack percentage, almost .040 percent below their season average.
Outside attacker Patrick Durbin said since its bye week in March, the team's offense has not been as effective. He also said despite wanting to play Ohio State, the team needs this week to get back into an offensive rhythm with setter Ethan Pheister.
"It's going to be a lot of repetitions coming our way and working on getting Ethan back on track to setting at the pins," Durbin said "He's connecting pretty well with the middles, but last weekend the outside sets were a little high and little inconsistent."
This is the second time this season Ball State will play Rutgers-Newark (6-14, 4-4 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) and George Mason (16-6, 7-3 EIVA).
In February the Cardinals swept the Scarlet Knights and beat the Patriots in five games. Against George Mason the Cardinals had a .234 attack percentage and were out-killed 83-70.
To help the offense improve, Walton said, the team is practicing passing float serves, a serve with no spin on the ball because that is what George Mason usually serves.
"Offensively we really struggled," he said. "We had some long spells where we didn't pass well. We had some bad hitting choices."
The Cardinals will also try to serve more balls to outside attacker Hudson Bates to prevent him from being offensively productive, Durbin said. Bates is averaging 3.77 kills per game, the second-most from George Mason and the 10th-best in the EIVA.
Durbin said the team is prepared for this weekend and is primarily concerned on the George Mason match.
"The Rutgers-Newark match isn't too much to worry about," he said. "The George Mason match is big. ... We've got them at their place, and I'm sure they will be looking for some revenge."
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