Perhaps the most-impressive feat this weekend for the men'stennis team was that the team played Monday.
Even though they ultimately fell, Matt Baccarani and PatrickThompson advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles play. To do that,they had to defeat the Wisconsin team of David Hippee and AlexKasarov, who comprised the top-ranked team in the doubles draw.
Ball State fell Monday morning to Notre Dame's Ryan Keckley andLuis Haddock, now the tournament's runners-up.
"I thought we played pretty well, especially with who we playedand the competitive matches we had," head coach Bill Richards said."That doubles match with the team from Notre Dame was reallyclose."
Richards couldn't attend the tournament, but he stayed in closecontact with the team.
Because he was unable to attend, assistant coach Ryan Baxtertook charge of this weekend, but he said Richards' absencehurt.
"Coach Richards is obviously one of the best coaches in thecountry, and having him here would have helped, but we teach ourplayers to handle themselves on the court," Baxter said."Obviously, having him here to talk to the team and help them onthe court would have helped us some."
Two other teams competed in the doubles main draw. Brad Rhodesand Matt Laramore fell in the first round to the tournament's No. 7team of Troy Havens and Paul Rose from Purdue.
The duo of Klint Knable and Paul Newman advanced to the secondround, where they lost to Minnesota's Clay Estes and Avery Ticer,who went on to the semifinals.
"We played pretty well," Baxter said. "We put ourselves inpositions to win matches. We just didn't beat the people we need toif we want to be successful this year."
The team had less success in singles, where it faced a number oftough losses. Of the four players from Ball State in qualifyingsingles, Heule advanced to the main draw.
Newman and Knable faced first-round losses in qualifyingsingles.
Thompson advanced to the finals before losing to Notre Dame'sPat Buchanan in a close match.
Michael Heule, who was ranked No. 4 in the qualifying draw,advanced to the main draw, where he lost in the first round toAnthony Jackson of Michigan.
"I thought it was good for Heule to make it into the main draw,"Richards said. "Thompson almost got in as well. I thought that wasgood."
In the singles main draw, Laramore lost a hard-contested matchto Michigan State's Cameron Marshall in the opening round.
Baccarani advanced past the first round after fighting offToledo's Khalid Al Nabhani. He lost to the Intercollegiate TennisAssociation's No. 86 player, Chris Martin of Illinois, in anotherhard-fought match.
"I thought the guys did pretty well this weekend," Richardssaid.
Before the team heads to Toledo for the Toledo Invitational, ithas the weekend off. The invitational is the final event of thepreseason.
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