The men's tennis team (10-6) lost 7-0 against No. 51 Louisville on Wednesday.
All of Ball State's six losses this season have come against ranked teams. The loss at Louisville represents the first time the team has been shut out this season.
Head coach Bill Richards said his team's effort was high, but the outcome was disappointing.
"I thought we came out and did a pretty good job of getting over the doubles point loss," he said. "We got into the singles matches pretty well except for No. 6."
Ball State beat Louisville last year 5-2, and Richards said he thought Louisville was pointing to Wednesday's game as a big match on its schedule this year.
Richards said his team would have had a chance to win the match, but the players did not take advantage of the chances they got early in the singles matches.
"We certainly would have had to play better than we did," he said. "We certainly would have had to capitalize on some of the matches when we won first sets and in the matches when we got up and didn't close things out."
Ball State lost two of the three doubles matches. In singles action No.1 senior Chris Varga lost 7-5, 7-5; No. 2 freshman Matt Baccarani lost 6-4, 6-2; No. 3 senior Kevin Burnett lost 0-6, 6-3, 6-1; No. 4 sophomore Matt Laramore lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; No. 5 freshman Patrick Thompson lost 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; No. 6 sophomore Paul Newman lost 6-0, 6-2.
Wright State Preview
Ball State plays its first home game since March 22 on Saturday against Wright State.
Saturday's match was added to the schedule because of the two rainouts the Cardinals experienced over spring break. Richards said he did not like the idea of the team having an empty weekend.
The Raiders played a match against Louisville on Jan. 17 and lost 7-0. Richards said Wright State is not on the level of some of the teams Ball State has played, comparing the Raiders to Chicago State and Dayton. The approach to the match is the same despite being the favorite, Richards said.
"We have to go in and play hard, play good tennis," he said.
Richards said he has not decided on his singles lineup, but that eight players would see action in either singles or doubles matches.
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