The first of three tiers of major fall national college tournaments begins this Friday with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Prequalifier.
Players will compete this weekend in the prequalification round, where unranked players try to make it to the qualifying round. Sixteen players will advance to the qualifying round.
Six of the eight players from Ball State will compete in the first round of prequalifications, which contains more than 250 students in singles play.
Ball State players will face competition from Oregon, Auburn and Florida State in the first round of singles play. Players will have to amass four-straight victories to make it to the qualification round.
"We've got to start in prequalifying," Ball State head coach Bill Richards said. "It's very tough and difficult, but we feel we need to get our guys there and be represented.
"You enjoy playing players from people from all around of the country," Richards said. "It's kind of refreshing. You go out of the region and play people you don't see on a regular basis."
Ball State has had success in past tournaments. The university's double team of Dan Kronauge and Paul Kruse won in 1991, and last year Matt Baccarani and Chris Varga made it to the finals in the qualifying round.
This year, Richards said he hopes to advance a couple people and a doubles team out of prequalifying and into qualifying.
But Richards said he knows that his players cannot entirely control their destinies.
"A lot depends on the luck of the draw," Richards said. "Sometimes you get lucky and get a weaker part of the draw. Sometimes you'll get a freshman from Stanford who's a great tennis player but has no college credentials and has to be in prequalifications."
Sixteen players from singles and eight doubles teams will advance to the qualifying round, which begins Tuesday,,2(-¬-ó<-¦wYS_mtennis_10/3DNEditorial,,2SORT-¦+â-ä2AUDT
The Ball State women?s tennis team returns to action this week with the Ball State Invitational.
Eight schools will come to Muncie: Butler, Dayton, Northern Illinois, Miami, IPFW, IUPUI, Wright State and Wisc-Milwaukee.
This will be the Cardinals first competition after taking a week off following the preseason opening Bronco Invitational. Head Coach Kathy Bull said she thinks the break will help the team.
?I?m glad we had the weekend off,? she said. ?I don?t think that even the athletes realize how taxing those three-day tournaments are.?
Last year Ball State took the top three flights in both singles and doubles, including the top two positions in Flight 1.
Bull expects a similar performance this year.
?I would like to see us win 80 percent of the doubles matches,? she said. ?I?d like to see a player in every one of the flights in the finals. I have some pretty high expectations with this tournament.?
While Bull wants her team to win, she said she knows that the main purpose of these preseason matches is to gain experience.
?It?s kind of a continuation of what we learned from the last tournament,? she said. ?I?m looking forward to see what the last two weeks have done.?This weekend is the only time during the preseason that the team will play at home.
?It?s always good to be home," Bull said. "We have a great facility. I think all of us are looking forward to play at home, in front of a home crowd.?The tournament begins today and goes through Saturday.
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