After falling 7-0 to Indiana last weekend, Ball State had a new resolve against No. 47 Michigan State on Saturday. And, while they were able to win their 8th doubles point of the season, the Cardinals fell short in singles, with only Paul Newman winning his match.
"We played better than we did in our last match," coach Bill Richards said. "It wasn't good enough to get the win. We're still not where we want to be or where we need to be."
The No. 65 Cardinals (5-5) performed well in doubles, with the No. 24-nationally team of Matt Baccarani/Patrick Thompson and Klint Knable/Paul Newman. Matt Laramore and Brad Rhodes fell 9-8, the Cardinals only loss in doubles.
"We played good doubles," Richards said. "We lost the other match in a tiebreaker, so we almost swept the doubles."
In singles, the Cardinals were less successful. While Baccarani, Thompson and Newman all were able to contend in their singles matches, only Newman was able to score a victory.
"We put ourselves in position to win the singles match," Richards said. "The key to winning against a good opponent is to get in all the matches. If you've got into each match, you will probably beat them. We need to be able to put ourselves in positions to win all those matches."
This loss was the Cardinals fifth, all against ranked opponents. Richards knows that playing quality opponents is important.
"Not to sound clich+â-¬, but nothing worthwhile is easy," he said.
Even Michigan State's coach, BSU alumnus and former men's tennis player Gene Orlando felt the match was important for his team.
"Ball State is a good program. They have beaten us many times before and it was one that we had to get," he said, in a Michigan State press release.
The Cardinals will leave Wednesday for the HEB Collegiate Team Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas. The championship will continue to test the Cardinals in their off-season.
"I told our players, we have to keep doing everything we possibly can," Richards said. "I'm the first to admit that what we've been up to and what we're going through very difficult."
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