Hall of Fame coach Arnie Ball isn't feeling the best about his team's chances in the conference tournament quarterfinals against the No. 13 Ball State University men's volleyball team.
Three days before the teams play in an elimination match at Worthen Arena, Ball said Wednesday that Ball State is better than IPFW.
"We know that they are a better team than us and we are going to have to play our very best," he said.
Ball said he thinks this about the Cardinals because of their quality wins this season.
The Cardinals (18-10, 7-5 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) defeated the Mastodons in two regular season matches and finished as the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. In addition, Ball State beat two nationally ranked teams in the final month of the season, including then-No. 13 Loyola University to close out its regular season Saturday.
IPFW had to win its final two conference matches last week to secure the No. 5 seed — the third consecutive season it's had that seed in the MIVA Tournament.
The Mastodons also enter the match on a six-match losing streak against the Cardinals stretching back to the 2008 season.
"We know that we have to come down and win," Ball said. "If I knew the answer to that I'd be making a lot more money."
Ball State and IPFW will play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Worthen Arena. The winner of this match will advance to play No. 10 Ohio State in the MIVA Tournament semifinals Wednesday.
Despite Ball State and IPFW being a rivalry match in previous years, Ball said he no longer considers the rivalry as intense as it used to be in the 1990s when the two teams were winning MIVA titles and playing each other in the conference championship match.
IPFW has not won a postseason match since advancing to the NCAA championship match in the 2007 season. Ball State is also on a program-worst eight-year drought with a MIVA championship.
This is the first time the two Indiana schools in the MIVA have played each other in the conference tournament since the 2006 semifinals.
"Unfortunately the rivalry is not what it use to be when it first started. It was a lot more heated and a bigger rivalry," Ball said. "It's just another match now."
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