This was not a good weekend for the Ball State men's tennis team. No. 65 Ball State lost all three of its matches over the weekend.
"It was not a very successful trip, in terms of results," coach Bill Richards said.
The first loss came Friday afternoon with a 4-0 loss to No. 68 Cornell in the second round.
"That was worst performance of the year so far. We played some pretty bad tennis," Richards said. "Matt Baccarani was the only guy who played anywhere close to his level. He was winning the match when they stopped. That was disappointing."
Richards said he didn't expect the match to be easy but was disappointed with his team's performance.
"I knew it was going to be tough," Richards said. "We played as poorly as we could play. It could have been the fact it was our first outdoors match, but I don't suspect Cornell has played outdoors any more than us, but I could be mistaken."
Things didn't get much better for the Cardinals later on Saturday, falling to No. 69 Arkansas-Little Rock 4-1.
"I felt we came with better sense of purpose. With a few breaks here and there, we could've put ourselves in a position to win," Richards said. "The player who did win in singles was Patrick Thompson, and we lost several close singles matches."
Sunday was another long day, in more than one sense.
"We played one of the longest matches I've ever been involved in. (It lasted) over four and a half hours," said Richards, who has coached Ball State for 32 years.
The Cardinals won the doubles point on their way to a 4-2 loss to No. 71 Memphis. Matt Baccarani landed the only singles victory for the Cardinals, against No. 76 Lee Walker.
"We had a lot of good chances," Richards said. "We played better, got a little bit better each day. We were not able to capitalize on opportunities to put ourselves in position to win."
Richards said he noticed a trend of his team being unable to win close matches and sets.
"It's been a pattern this year against the Big Ten and certainly against the teams down there (this weekend)," he said. "We have to find a way to win close sets and matches."
In the coming weeks, the Cardinals will face No. 48 Michigan on Saturday in Muncie and on March 20 will travel to Tucson to face No. 34 Arizona. To close the month, they start conference play against Toledo and host No. 46 Notre Dame.
"It doesn't get any easier," Richards said. "We just have to work though some tough times."
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