Ball State men's tennis (8-2) saw a pair of Michigan teams on Saturday in a doubleheader. The team split the day with a win over Detroit and a loss to Michigan State.
In the second matchup of the weekend against Detroit (5-5), Ball State won 4-1. In doubles, freshman Chris Adams and junior Tom Carney picked up a win at third position, while juniors Conner Andersen and Marko Guzina won 6-2 in the second position. Head coach Bill Richards prides his team's win over a tough team like Detroit.
"Detroit was like a lot of teams we have beaten this year and very similar to Belmont and Xavier," Richards said. "We knew Detroit was going to be a tough match and physically we were able to get through it."
Freshman Bryce Bonin picked up a win in singles at the fifth position by beating his opponent (6-2, 6-2) and redshirt junior Colin Rigney won his singles match (6-3, 6-1).
The first match of the day was against Michigan State (6-7) who swept Ball State 4-0. The Cardinals were unable to win a singles match. However, Adams and Carney picked up another win at third position in doubles. Richards said his team knew this was going to be a tough match going into it.
"We really needed to be 100 percent to have a shot at beating them," Richards said. "We weren't physically where we needed to be. With a little bit of luck, we could have won that match."
After a week of tough competition, the Cardinals will use this week leading up to spring break to prepare for their match against Taylor on March 2. Heading into this match, Richards said it will be similar to the IU Southeast doubleheader.
"We'll give our regular lineup guys some playing time," Richards said. "Then for the second match, the guys who aren't usually in the lineup will get an opportunity to play. It's good for everybody to get some playing time in."
The first match of Friday's doubleheader against the Trojans is slated to start at 3 p.m. with the second match to follow at 5:30 p.m. at the Muncie YMCA Tennis Center.
Contact Patrick Murphy with comments at prmurphy2@bsu.edu or on Twitter at @pmurph505.
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