Ball State University women's volleyball coach Dave Boos has already taken on the daunting task of getting 10 newcomers to adjust to his complex system of various offenses and defenses.
To add fuel to the fire, the second-year coach now has to worry about a couple in-game rule changes from last season that will ultimately affect the way he coaches at the end of games.
An NCAA rules oversight panel voted Feb. 27 to change the number of points required to win a set (formerly referred to as a game) from 30 to 25, which is the standard number used in international and high school matches.
"I think it's a rule change that you could see coming," Boos said. "You have to play at a pretty high level, and you can't have a bunch of lulls in your game. But I think it will be an exciting change for the fans and a little bit of an adjustment for our players."
The scoring change comes after the NCAA felt an apparent lack of intensity during long 30-point games was taking away from the fans' and players' excitement and focus.
Boos feels the scoring change could ultimately make it possible for some surprises this season.
"[The scoring change] will affect our sport, and I think it caters to more upsets," he said. "I think for our team, it will be a good thing because we will have a chance to really be a pretty solid offensive and defensive team, and it will just play to our team pretty well."
The number of sets required to win a match still remains at three, and 15 points will still be the number required to win a decisive fifth set.
"It actually is kind of a big difference because it just makes the game more intense," said junior Elaina Kakatolis, an opposite hitter who was second on the team last season with 251 kills. "The whole time you really have to focus in -¡- you don't have an extra five points to make errors with. You really have to push to get to 25 as fast as you can."
Both Kakatolis and her teammate, junior defensive specialist Rachel Alcorn, said the points change will be significant.
"It's a big change and it just makes it so much shorter," said Alcorn, who tallied 212 digs last season. "A lot of games could really drag out to 30 points, so this just helps it move along."
One other rule change from last season the casual fan might not notice is the number of substitutions allowed. Coaches are now allowed to substitute 12 times per set instead of the usual 15.
Boos said this rule is the most important change from last year.
"We have to be very conscious of the number of rotations that we've used thus far [in a set]," he said. "What ends up happening is the more times that you sideout on the first reception you have, the faster you're rotating around, the more subs you're using - so at the end of the game, it becomes, 'Do we have enough subs to use our normal lineup or how do we still make it work?'"
The Cardinals had their first chance to try out the rule changes in Saturday's annual Alumni match. The players said they noticed an immediate change.
"When we played in the Alumni match, it seemed like it went a lot faster," Alcorn said.
Ball State will open its regular season on Friday against Wisconsin-Green Bay.
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