The women's tennis team travels to Ann Arbor, Mich., Thursday to play No. 33 Michigan Wolverines (5-3).
Michigan's credentials include two victories over ranked teams, Kentucky and Wake Forest.
The Cardinals (6-4, 1-1) are coming off a 7-0 victory over Toledo on Saturday, and head coach Kathy Bull said the win helped the team's confidence level.
"We felt like there for a while we were spinning our wheels, and we weren't getting anywhere," Bull said. "That came at a very welcome time, no doubt about it."
"It's always better to go at a big match with a Big Ten team after a victory then worrying about trying to break a losing streak," she said. "You know it was different. It gave us a little bit of a spring in our step back at practice."
Bull said she was familiar with some of the players Michigan has on its team because they played junior tennis in the Midwest. She also said Michigan would probably be the toughest team on the Cardinals schedule this season.
"I have to teach my team and get them to feel like they can play with people like this, and that's one of the reasons that they're on their schedule," Bull said.
Saturday junior Melissa Roach defeated No. 54 Lisa D' Amelio of Eastern Michigan. Thursday she faces another ranked singles player in No. 92 Leanne Rutherford for Michigan.
"I'm not sure they're going to know a whole lot about Melissa Roach, which I think maybe will be helpful from our standpoint. From Melissa's standpoint I think pretty much anything can happen for her on a given day."
"(Melissa Roach) wants to go out and really represent herself and Ball State at the highest level, and she has some pretty lofty goals for herself," Bull said. "I know she'll take that challenge very seriously, and it should be a good matchup."
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