3 and 15? Watch out MAC!

After watching the Ball State women's volleyball team crush Buffalo 3-0 in their last home match, I was definitely optimistic and hopeful for a good weekend for the Cards on the court. Yes, the team was coming in to the weekend with a 3 and 13 record, but they had started off the MAC 2 and 2 and were riding a 2 game winning streak. Not to mention that Coach Boos's squad was starting to come on offensively, the aspect of their game that seemed to be struggling the most.

But similar to the Ball State football team, it was a heartbreaking weekend for the women's volleyball team. On Friday against Western Michigan, the team came out strong dominating game number one against the Broncos 30-20. The offense was there for the Cardinals, and everything seemed to be clicking. Unfortunately the Cardinals, could not keep that momemtum up as they lost the next three games to suffer a 3 to 1 loss. You can't fault the outside attackers for Ball State. Senior Brittany May led the team with 21 kills and sophomore Julie Breivogel was right behind her with 20. The defense again remained consistent for the Cardinals.

Saturday night, however, was the true heartbreaker. The Cardinals jumped out to an early 2 game lead and had all the momemtum against Northern Ilinois going in to the 10 minute break. The momentum was sure reversed coming out of the locker room. The Huskies jumped out to leads in games 3 and 4 and never let go of them forcing a game 5. Could BSU respond and take game 5? No, the defeats of game 3 and 4 seemed to be too much and the Cardinals fell in game five to lose the match 3-2. So what seemed to be a dominating win for the Cardinals going into the locker room ended as a heartbreaking loss. Again the Cardinals were led in kills by Brittany May and Julie Breivogel each tallying 19 kills, but many of the sets from Angie Parrell were going their way. Freshman Alyssa Rio kept her stellar defense and numbers for Cards as she led the team in digs with 27. BSU definitely showed the potential they have in this game and the entire weekend for that matter, but the lapses offensively in both matches seemed to really cost them. This weekend was good for the Cards in that it showed how much they have improved since the beginning of the season, and that they can put up dominating performances. They key for the Cards is to consistently play that way.

It doesn't get any easier for the Cards this weekend as they take their 3 and 15 record, 2 and 4 in the MAC on the road to four time defending league champ Ohio on Friday and to Kent State on Saturday who is 4 and 2 in the conference. However, don't doubt this young Cardinal team because without the few offensive lapses and some untimely errors this weekend, they could easily be 4 and 2 in the MAC. Coach Boos definitely has this squad improving, so watch out MAC teams come tournament time.