The men's tennis team started off the Mid-American Conference season right on Saturday, dominating the Rockets of Toledo.
"I thought we played pretty well; I think we took a step forward this weekend," coach Bill Richards said. "Starting out conference season with a decisive win over Toledo is what we wanted to accomplish, and we did that."
The Cardinals (6-11, 1-0 MAC) swept the Rockets, not dropping a single set to Toledo (8-8, 0-1 MAC). The Cards' only blemish was Matt Laramore and Brad Rhodes' loss in doubles to Toledo's Freddy Gomez and Cristobal Toral.
"The doubles you never know," Richards said. "It was a little closer than I would have liked it to be, but then we dominated them in singles without losing a set. Toledo's a pretty good team. I was concerned about our confidence level going into that match, but our players knew we played a lot of hard teams, and we were really never threatened (by Toledo)."
The match was only the second outdoor match of the Spring season for the Cardinals and the first at Cardinal Creek Tennis Center.
Last year the Rockets finished fourth out of the six teams in the MAC.
On Sunday, the Cardinals took an early lead against No. 36 Notre Dame (12-7) by winning the doubles point, but fell 4-3.
Once again, the teams of Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson, and Paul Newman and Klint Knable were able to come out with victories.
"We wanted to put ourselves in position to win, and I felt we accomplished that," Richards said. "I thought we played well, and I think it's a good step as we move into the heart of the conference season."
In singles, Baccarani was able to score the victory against No. 80 Luis Haddock, his second victory over a nationally ranked player this year. His first was against then-No. 76 Lee Walker of Memphis.
"The Notre Dame match was a big win. This was a very solid weekend him, anytime you play No. 1 you always play solid players. I mean even the player from Toledo is a good player who we have always had trouble with. Obviously his win over Luis Haddock was one of his best wins of the year," Richards said. "For Matt as a sophomore, against a nationally ranked senior, that's obviously a very good win for him."
Laramore was also able to score a victory in singles for the Cardinals, but the rest of the team fell short, including Paul Newman, who lost in three sets. giving the Irish the win in possibly the closest loss of a hard-fought season for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals are back into action Thursday, when they play host to Wright State at 1 p.m.
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