Men's tennis head coach Bill Richards called it the biggest win of the year.
Ball State beat No. 65 Michigan State 4-3 on Saturday at the Muncie YMCA Indoor Tennis Center.
The victory over the Spartans is the first time the Cardinals have beaten a ranked team this season. They lost to Illinois and Michigan earlier in the year. Last year Ball State was 0-11 against ranked opponents.
Ball State lost two out of the three doubles matches, giving the point to Michigan State. Richards said the team kept its focus, and Ball State was able to rally and win four of the six singles matches.
Getting those victories were Chris Varga (6-4, 6-2), Kevin Burnett (7-6 (3), 6-3), Klint Knable (4-6, 6-3, 6-3) and Patrick Thompson (6-3, 6-2). Varga and Thompson for an 8-3 win in doubles play.
Matt Baccarani and Matt Laramore fell in their singles matches. In doubles play, it was Baccarani/Burnett and Knable/Brad Rhodes who lost.
"Whether you won the doubles point or not it is really important to get off to good starts," Richards said. "All six of our guys got into their matches early, and we stabilized momentum at that point by getting off to good starts."
Richards said this match would serve as a barometer for his team's skill level and give Ball State more national recognition.
"We proved a lot this weekend," he said. "I thought for us to move into the mix nationally this was a match we needed to win so we took a big step forward and proved a lot with that win."
Richards said he wants his team to use this match as a foundation for future matches against ranked opponents.
"We're going to play Purdue on Saturday and they're a level above Michigan State," he said. "We're going to have to hope we can continue to improve our play and pick it up to a point where we can beat higher ranked teams."
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