Joel Walton Quotations

I was going crazy (when Mullens fouled out). I've never heard Chris Beals yell so loud. In the fourth quarter, the memories of the past two district finals did kind of creep up. But those fears were kind of squelched because I trust my brothers. I looked around and I said these are my best friends. These are guys I have been playing with my entire life.

St. Francis is a good team. They are a team that could begin to vie for East Coast championships. They are a team that can compete with us.

Practice Wednesday was pretty good. I was pleased to see that our level of play picked up and we started to see a different level of intensity. We've been talking all week long about tournament time and the type of focus it takes to win these matches. You've got to be able to find your rhythm and get out and still execute at a high level.

They are a very good team. Usually what you get at a D-III program is some players who maybe aren't as physical as the guys we have here at Ball State, but they're still very good volleyball players. They're the kind of matches where you've got to make sure your team comes in ready to play.

I think our team is capable of playing with anyone in the country, but yet we have to go show that this weekend.

Hopefully we're going to be able to give them a punch in the mouth right away. And take some of the wind out of their sails, jump on top of them and keep stomping on them and never let them up. That's the kind of performance I hope to see.

The thing that had us optimistic is that we returned so many starters from last year. We had a team that played well within the conference but had various injuries throughout the season that kept us from reaching our potential.

Lewis was a team effort. It takes everybody doing their part on defense. You've got to make pretty good defensive plays and it allows us to go in and control play from start to finish.

This is a chance for people to be exposed to Ball State volleyball and for us to expand the interest in the sport. We're giving Central State a chance to play a high-caliber team.

You have to serve in time and time again. What we want out of our guys is the first ball they serve to be the same as the last ball they serve. It helps with rhythm and builds consistency.