After keeping track of the Ball State women's volleyball team this weekend, one thing stood out: its aggression on the attack.
This is based on a small sample size against inferior competition, granted, but the Cardinals had 15.1 kills per set over the weekend. That's 2.6 more than they averaged in 2009. They did this while cutting back on errors as well, with 5.2 per set compared to 5.7 in 2009.
That's a three-point swing. Ball State lost 16 sets by three points or fewer last season, including two fifth sets. Maintaining that figure alone could turn the program around in 2010, giving the Cardinals close wins instead of close losses
Much of the credit goes to the attacking quartet of Brittany McGinnis setting to Kelsey Brandl and freshmen Kylee Baker and Whitney Heeres, who could be breakout stars for the Cardinals in their first season.
Through the three games, Brandl, Heeres and Baker combined for 100 kills. McGinnis was almost perfect with 101 assists to only three errors.
It's a good sign for Ball State if McGinnis has multiple threats to dish the ball. Blockers will have to adjust to where all the potential attackers are, which should lead to some good matchups for one of the three attackers.
It's interesting that each of the three had one average game to go along with two strong outings — Heeres vs. The Citadel, Brandl vs. Indiana State and Baker vs. Southern Illinois Edwardsville. If those three players can click at the same time, opponents won't know what hit them.
A few other volleyball-related thoughts from the weekend:
• I was impressed with the way coach Steve Shondell managed his roster during the first game against The Citadel then puzzled by what he did in Game 2.
Shondell used 13 players in Friday night's win, keeping players fresh and giving some bench players necessary in-game experience. But against Indiana State on Saturday morning, he condensed the bench, going with a nine-player rotation.
I think this explains the struggles Ball State had against SIUE, a team that won two matches last season. The Cardinals seemed sluggish in their third game in 27 hours.
The players said fatigue wasn't a problem and the Cougars were just more aggressive than expected, but Shondell needs to have a different substitution plan for these three-game weekends.
If Shondell had used a similar lineup strategy in Game 2 as Game 1, his players might have been in better condition for the third match. I know it was a three-set sweep, but the Cardinals should have wiped the floor with the Cougars rather than struggling in close sets, especially the opening one.
Ball State has two more tournament weekends in its nonconference schedule, and, of course, there's the MAC Tournament at season's end.
Let's keep an eye on this during the Active Ankle Challenge, which starts Friday.
• Service errors need to become unacceptable quickly.
Ball State gave 20 points to its opponents on service mistakes — 2.2 per set. It didn't hurt the Cardinals this weekend, but a costly service error could be devastating at the wrong time in a match.
The team should never give their opponents a point for just standing around.
• How much more fun is it to be a Ball State fan at this moment compared to 2009?
As of today, the women's volleyball, soccer and field hockey teams are a combined 7-2. Through the first weekend of classes last year, those three teams were 2-5, and we were still unprepared for what the football team was about to do to us with seven-straight losses to open the fall.
See, it can be fun to be a Cardinal.
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