Women's tennis head coach Kathy Bull called Sunday's match against DePaul a "flat performance."
The team started the season 5-0 but dropped its second straight match in as many weeks on Sunday. The 6-1 home loss represented a complete reversal from last year's match at DePaul when the Cardinals defeated the Blue Demons 5-2.
Bull said the talent difference was not distinguishable between teams, but the flat play by the Cardinals led to the loss.
"I have to be honest with you; we came out and had a very flat performance for us," Bull said.
The match started with Ball State losing the doubles point after having several opportunities to win, Bull said.
"We had like three match points from our No. 2 team and we ended up losing that," Bull said. "We didn't go out and play the tennis we're capable of after that.
"I think that momentum might have jump-started and woke us up a little bit to say, 'Hey, we can really win this match.' So it just seemed to be the theme for the day."
Bull said leading up to the start of the match the team looked deflated.
"My assistant and I could tell during warm-ups, after doubles practice, after our team cheer that we just were out of sync," she said. "You could just tell out on the doubles court that we were lacking a little bit of enthusiasm."
Despite the loss, Bull said there were some positive characteristics that the team can focus on in the future.
"[Melissa Roach] played with a lot of heart yesterday, feeling absolutely horrible," Bull said. "Kudos to her for that because that is hard to do. It's much easier to say, 'I need to sit this one out.' I was proud of that."
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