Fewer than three days before playing its final regular season conference match, the availability of the Ball State University men's volleyball team's all-conference setter remains unknown.
Coach Joel Walton said Wednesday that he did not know if setter Ethan Pheister would play in Saturday's match against IPFW because he violated team rules during the weekend.
"We're working through a situation, and I'm not sure how that is going to be resolved," Walton said.
Walton said he could not get more specific on the team rule Pheister violated.
"The issue that we are discussing pertains to team rules, and I'm not at liberty to go in-depth beyond that point," Walton said.
Pheister, a 2008 second team all-conference player, has started every match for Ball State (14-8, 5-4 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) this season. The junior setter has the fifth most assists in school history with 2,622, including 966 assists this season.
The weekend in question was the first time this season the Cardinals did not have a match on Friday or Saturday. The only team event during that time was Ball State's exhibition alumni match Friday in Indianapolis.
When contacted earlier this week, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and Delaware County Jail had no record of Pheister being arrested.
Along with Walton, Pheister - who participated in the team's practice Wednesday - said he could not comment on what team rule he violated.
"I can't really talk about that right now," he said. "I'm just focused on IPFW and playing the match this Saturday."
The Cardinals enter the match in third place in the MIVA and can clinch the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament with a win against the fourth-place Mastodons (12-10, 3-3 MIVA).
In its previous match, Ball State swept IPFW in February at Worthen Arena as Pheister had a match-high 48 assists. The Cardinals also had a .300 attack percentage in the win - .015 percentage points higher than their season average.
If Pheister does not play in Saturday's match, Ball State's likely starting setter will be backup Daniel Penrod. As a redshirt freshman, Penrod has never started a college match and has mostly come off the bench this season as a serving specialist.
The last time Penrod had significant playing time at setter was in a sweep against Carthage College, a Division III team, on March 17.
Regardless of who will be the starting setter Saturday, Pheister said he is trying to prepare for the match.
"I'm focused on the match against IPFW," Pheister said.
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