The only thing that could stop Mike Heule was a rainstorm.Unfortunately, the rains came before his 11:00 Championship game inFlight B singles finished.
The Cardinals dominated the Northern half of the B Singlesbracket at this years Cardinal Invitational, winning every matchthey played. Heule defeated Ball State's Klint Knable to make it tothe finals, where he was facing Ben Pettinar of Illinois State forthe championship.
"Mike was winning the match when the rain came," Coach BillRichards said. "That probably took the championship away fromMike."
Ball State's results were mixed, overall. The team sufferedlosses in Flight A Singles, which neither Matt Bacccarani nor MattLaramore winning more than one match.
In Flight B Singles, Paul Newman made it to quarterfinals, KlintKnable made it to Semifinals, Patrick Thompson was in theConsolation finals, and was leading over Justin Kates of WesternMichigan when the rains came.
"Klint Knable had the biggest win," Richards said. "He won overToledo's #1 guy from last year."
In Flight C Singles, Brad Rhodes made it to the Semifinalsbefore losing to Jack Komar of Northern Illinois.
"There is no question, we have very good depth," Richards said."The top of the lineup is the big question mark. From there its adog fight, from [position] 2 to 6 it's so close."
The main advantage in this tournament was experience, Richardssaid.
"You learn every time you go out," Richards said. "Klint Knableand Mike Heule took a big step foreward."
Overall, the team went 17-9 in singles and 5-5 in doubles.
"We have a lot of work to do in doubles," Richards said. "Ithought that singles were OK and doubles were not."
The team heads to Chattanooga for the ITA All-AmericanPre-Qualifer on Wednesday, and the action starts Friday.
"We need to get health and work on doubles," Richards. "We don'thave a lot of time to do either."
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