The Ball State men's tennis team has 17 Mid-American Conference regular season championships. To put that into perspective, men's basketball and women's volleyball have garnered eight each, while the football and baseball teams each have five.
Only the field hockey team has come close to the domination the Cardinals have held in MAC men's tennis. Saturday the Cardinals (12-11, 4-0 in the MAC) will look to win No. 18 as they travel to Kalamazoo to take on No. 61 Western Michigan. The Broncos (16-6, 4-0 in the MAC) are favored to win the regular-season title.
"They've been the best team in the conference all year; they were picked to win it," coach Bill Richards said. "This is somewhat different territory for us. We've normally been the favorite for the last 20 years, and we're not this year. Western's been ranked ahead of us. They've beaten some teams that we've lost to. I give them credit; they've had a good year."
Despite the Cards facing an unusual situation to close their season, Richards expects to see a good match this weekend. "This is for the championship. We're both undefeated. It's for the conference championship, and it's exciting," he said. "This is what you play for, and we feel good about our chances. But we know we have to play very well to get the job done on Saturday."
The Cardinals carry in a seven-game winning streak, but Richards expects both teams will come out for this match and play some of their best tennis of the year.
"I think both teams will play well," he said. "I think any time it's a championship match, I think that you're going to get everything out of yourself that you can possibly get. We're going to be ready, they're going to be ready, motivations are going to be equal, you're playing for a championship. It's going to be a great college tennis match."
In the Broncos' arsenal is senior No. 91 Ravi Pathanjali. Pathanjali has been nationally ranked throughout the season, and is the front-runner for MAC Player of the Year. Pathanjali will likely face Matt Baccarani at the No. 1 singles position. Baccarani had faced a number of national ranked players this year, scoring victories over two in singles.
"(Pathanjali's) been a very solid player for them throughout his career," Richards said. "And (he) is undefeated in the conference at this time, he's nationally ranked, he's been the premier player in the conference this year. We feel that our Matt Baccarani is very good, but certainly Pathanjali has set the standard this year."
Since winning their first MAC title in 1984, the Cardinals have lost a total of five MAC matches. Last year the Cardinals beat then-No. 65 Western Michigan at home 4-3 before winning the conference title the next weekend.
But after BSU lost MAC Player of the Year Chris Varga to graduation, Western Michigan has the chance to overpower the Cardinals this weekend.
"I feel we'll play well, and hopefully that will be good enough," Richards said. "If not, we're not going to leave anything on the court -- I can promise you that."
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