Ball State men's tennis coach Bill Richards would like his team to make a good first impression this weekend.
"We want to play well; we want to get off to a good start," he said. "We want to try to get the season started off on a positive note."
The No. 63 Cardinals will host a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning with IUPUI at 11 a.m. and continuing with Valparaiso at 3 p.m. Richards isn't taking these teams lightly.
"They're teams we've beaten in the past, but both improved from last year," he said. "They look at us as a nationally ranked team, and they will be very motivated and will play very hard."
The team is coming off a break following preseason play, which concluded with the ITA Regional Championship in October.
"It's always a long offseason," Richards said. "It puts a lot of responsibility on the players individually to make sure they're ready to go."
Regionally ranked sophomore Matt Baccarani is confident in the Cardinals going into their first matches of the regular season.
"I think everybody's ready. Everyone who's come back (from last year) is improved," he said. "I think we're favored in both matches, so we have to go out there and take care of business."
Players from the team have faced members of IUPUI and Valparaiso's teams in the fall, and all three clashes have resulted in a Ball State win. At the Ball State Invitational, Laramore defeated Ben Dunham-Freer of Valparaiso, and the doubles team of Laramore/Brad Rhodes Ball State beat Nic Koovers/Joe Venagas of Valparaiso. Patrick Thompson won out against IUPUI's Luke Recker in the first round of the ITA Midwest Championship.
Last year Ball State came out victorious against both opponents, beating both 7-0 on its way to a 17-8 overall record.
Following this weekend's matchups, Ball State has four straight Big Ten teams: Top-ranked Illinois, No. 53 Purdue, No. 58 Northwestern and Wisconsin. The Cards also face No. 37 Arizona, No. 49 Notre Dame, No. 51 Indiana, No. 59 Michigan State, and No. 66 Western Michigan before they host the MAC Championships in April. Richards is not looking too far into the future, though.
"It's such a long year; the conference tournament is at the end of April," he said. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves," he said. "Our goals are constant year to year: we want to get into NCAA Tournament and do well against the Big Ten teams."
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