Head coach Bill Richards said he was unwilling to look past the men's tennis team's first match to concentrate on its second match - a showdown with No. 7 Notre Dame.
His philosophy paid off as the Cardinals virtually knocked Western Michigan out of the hunt for the Mid-American Conference title, handing the Broncos their second league loss of the season.
The match started out poorly as the Cardinals (10-12 overall, 3-0 MAC) lost the doubles point.
"We lost the doubles point and we all just started out tight," Richards said. "Seni and Pressel really stepped up and won their singles matches to lead us."
With the league victory under its belt, the team had little time to prepare for its second match against a top-10 opponent this year. Using the drive back from Western as the main preparation period, the Cardinals continued the strong singles play from the Western game to carry the team in doubles against the Fighting Irish.
While the Cards were unable to claim the coveted doubles point, Richards said the team really took a lot of momentum out of matches.
"Especially in doubles, we came out with more emotion, more enthusiasm and more fire than Notre Dame did," Richards said. "We were able to get off to good starts and carry that into singles play."
Nonetheless, the Big East champions overpowered the Cardinals, winning three quick singles matches to secure the win. But Ball State rebounded with three, three-set victories at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6.
Senior Jason Pressel highlighted the match for the Cardinals with his victory at No. 1 over Casey Smith. Smith is a top-50 ranked player in the country.
"I'm not really surprised with the outcome," Pressel said. "It was what I know I can do. It just felt good."
With the Notre Dame match thrown in the middle of the team's conference schedule, Richards said he realized the risks the team was taking playing a match that made little difference in the season, as a loss could hurt more than just the team's record.
"I told the guys before the match that, in recent years, we really haven't played good tennis against Notre Dame regardless of the score," Richards said. "We just tried to put the conference race out of our head and focus on playing good tennis and show Notre Dame we could play with the top-ranked teams in the country.
"This team, for some reason, did a better job of that. I don't know why, but we played some good tennis."
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