Ball State men's volleyball returns home for 6 matches

Hiago Garchet reacts after winning the match against Harvard on Jan. 15 at Worthen Arena. DN PHOTO EMMA ROGERS
Hiago Garchet reacts after winning the match against Harvard on Jan. 15 at Worthen Arena. DN PHOTO EMMA ROGERS


The Cardinals picked up four wins and two losses while traveling the east coast and parts of the Midwest. Now on a four-game win streak, the 7-2 Cardinals hope to make a push for control of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association as conference play picks up.

Head coach Joel Walton is looking forward to returning home and playing in front of a Ball State crowd.

“Any time you play on the road, the challenge is going into an environment you’re not familiar with,” Walton said. “A lot of times, the crowd in an opposing building is going to do whatever they can to make you uncomfortable.”

The road trip was tough at the beginning for the Cardinals, as they were swept by Penn State and dropped a five-set match to Saint Francis.

Junior outside attacker Brendan Surane knew coming in the first away game would be a tough adjustment for some of the younger players.

“I think the beginning of the road trip started out slow,” Surane said. “When we lost those first two matches, it was definitely a wake-up call for a lot of guys just to see how traveling will affect them and how it’s a lot harder to play on the road instead of [in] Worthen [Arena].”

Surane has showed his dominance in the early part of the season. Currently, he leads the Cardinals with 100 kills and a 3.03 kills-per-set average.

After the first two losses, the Cardinals have collected wins against the New Jersey Institute of Technology, George Mason, McKendree and No. 9 Ohio State.

The Cardinals have had success winning matches as of late, but have also fallen into a pattern of losing its first two sets, forcing themselves to climb back from an 2-0 deficit. They did this against George Mason, McKendree and Ohio State.

“Even the matches we won we didn’t start very well, but we were able to figure out how to come back and win those matches, which was very important for us as a team,” senior setter Hiago Garchet said. “But I think that was a wake-up call too, ... to realize that we have to step up on the court earlier in every match.”

The Cardinals upset long-time MIVA rival Ohio State Buckeyes, pushing the team's record to 2-0 in MIVA conference play.

“Ohio State its definitely good to beat — we don’t like them and they don’t like us — but also because they were ranked higher than we are,” Garchet said.

As of now, Ball State is one of two MIVA schools with an undefeated record, the only other team undefeated being No. 5 Loyola.

The Cardinals' home stretch won't be an easy one, as they welcome in-state rival Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (4-6) and Barton College (5-2).

“Beating any team, at least the way I see it, is that every team is a challenge for us,” Garchet said. “No matter if they’re ranked or no matter what name they have or who they are.”

Following the Cardinals' 'matches this week, they will welcome Loyola (7-2) Feb. 17 and Lewis (8-4) Feb. 18.

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