Players on the Ball State University men's volleyball team have heard all the talk about No. 11 Lewis University leading up to their conference opener tonight.
With the preseason poll predicting Lewis to win the conference title, the Flyers said they have the belief that this is their year to win a championship and advance to the NCAA Final Four.
That belief has not resonated well with Ball State, which is preparing for its 7:30 p.m. match at Worthen Arena.
"They just think it's their year because they were picked first, and rightly so. They are a very good team. We are going to try to not talk like that," setter Ethan Pheister said. "If they come in overconfident, we are going to jump on them."
Lewis (3-1, 0-0 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) returns all but one starter from last year's team that finished in third place in the MIVA regular season. The five seniors on the roster are also the first group to play all four years with Flyers' coach Dan Friend since the team received NCAA sanctions and had to forfeit its 2003 NCAA Championship.
Friend said his team likes to think it is its year to win its first conference team since he arrived at the school following the NCAA violations for using ineligible players.
With the large amount of seniors, Ball State coach Joel Walton said this is the most experienced Lewis team since the NCAA violations. However, outside attacker Todd Chamberlain said he is not worried with the Flyers calling it their year.
"It doesn't matter what you call it," Chamberlain said. "It is what it is."
This will be the first time the two teams will play each other since Ball State (0-3, 0-0 MIVA) eliminated Lewis in the MIVA Tournament semifinals last season. It was the second consecutive season the Cardinals eliminated the Flyers - their only two postseason trips since the NCAA suspended them from the MIVA Tournament for the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
Ball State is on a nine-match winning streak against Lewis. The Flyers' last win occurred in January 2005.
Besides its matches against the other Illinois MIVA team Loyola University, Friend said playing Ball State has become his team's biggest rival the last few seasons.
"It's a big match between them, and there is spirited talking through the net," he said. "It's an intense match."
The match tonight is the first time Lewis will play in Worthen Arena since Ball State rallied from a two-game deficit to win in five games on Jan. 25, 2008. In the fifth game, outside attacker Eric Schulte had to restrain Pheister when the setter and a Lewis player started talking to each other following a controversial call.
Pheister said he always likes playing Lewis. He also said the Flyers believing it is their year to win a championship will not give Ball State any more motivation because of the importance of tonight's match.
"You don't need any extra motivation. It's a big conference home match," Pheister said. "If you lose any conference home match, you pretty much lose the ability to hold the conference tournament at home."
In the last three seasons, every team to win a conference regular-season title has not lost a MIVA home match. The team that finishes in first place in the MIVA regular season gets to be the host of the MIVA Tournament semifinals and championship matches.
Ball State enters the conference opener on a three-match losing streak, including losses to No. 1 Penn State University and No. 6 Stanford University. Lewis' only loss was a four-game road loss to No. 9 Brigham Young University.
Despite the Cardinals' non-conference record, Walton said the only thing that matters now is making sure to win this home conference match.
"It's a message match," he said. "Whoever wins sends that early message to the rest of the league teams that they're are playing well and ready to go."
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