The women's tennis team will probably compete without its top singles player on Saturday at Michigan State.
Junior Melissa Roach played while sick last Sunday in the Cardinals 6-1 loss to DePaul. Since Sunday Roach has not practiced and has attended only a couple of classes, head coach Kathy Bull said.
With the absence of Roach from the team, Bull said the lineup would change.
"You take the number-one player out of there and we have to realign doubles teams, and everybody is going to move up in singles," Bull said. "It puts us at a little bit of a deficit, but you know it just makes the challenge a little bit greater and there is no reason to hold up the white flag. We're not ready to surrender."
Bull said sophomore Kara Sullivan was suffering from a similar illness, but her case was not as severe. She also said sickness was hurting the team's depth, which was already slim at the start of the season.
"Good timing or bad timing I have no idea," Bull said. "But when you have a small team like we do it really affects all of us. Right now we're just trying to keep it contained to two people."
Two players are going to have to step into a leadership role with the loss of Roach, Bull said.
"It's really going to be between Jenny Batty and Leisa Brooks," she said. "Those two have kind of been in (Melissa Roach's) shadow, and they're very good, solid tennis players."
Many times in sports, adversity brings teams closer together, and Bull said the same things would happen in this situation. However, the individual aspect of college tennis will make winning more difficult, according to Bull.
"It's one thing to insert a basketball player in there with four teammates," Bull said. "Moving your lineup around affects us all in a little bit different way.
Michigan State enters the match with Ball State at 5-5. All five losses have been against ranked opponents.
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