The men's and women's tennis teams fall season will all but endthis weekend as Ball State heads to the ITA Regionals. The men'sregional will be hosted by Michigan, while the women's tournamentwill be in Minneapolis, Minn. Men's coach Bill Richards said, whilethe tournament functions as a way to advance to the indoornationals, there are some other results.
"It's all individual," he said. "But everything you do reflectson our team. It's the regional qualifier for the national indoorchampionship -- that's the technical purpose of the tournament.It's also a good indication of the strength of the teams in ourregion."
The men are hoping for a good tournament after Matt Baccaraniand Patrick Thompson advanced to the round of 16 at the ITAAll-Americans before falling. Now they will lead the three BallState doubles teams in the ITA Midwest Regionals as they look toadvance to the ITA Indoor Nationals.
Baccarani and Thompson enter the tournament ranked No. 53 in thecountry and No. 4 in the tournament. They will be the top doublesduo not from Ohio State or Illinois.
In prequalifying singles Tony Epkey, Paul Newman and KlintKnable will represent the Cardinals. They will need to win threestraight to advance to the main. Knable will face Sam Davidson ofDePaul in the first round. Epkey will face Cleveland State's BradGroleski, while Newman will face Indiana State's Kevin Doh.
Two Cardinals, Baccarani and Matt Laramore, earned automaticbids to the main singles draw.
In doubles the Cardinals will have Baccarani and Thompson,Laramore teaming with Brad Rhodes, and Knable and Newman. Richardssaid the decisions were not easy.
"I faced some tough decisions," he said. "We decided to give theseniors the benefit of the doubt and let them play."
"We just want to get out there, play some good tennis andcompete."
The women, meanwhile, will head for Minnisota for their ITARegional. While the women have the same number of teams and playersin the tournament, many of their players will be in the qualifyingdraw. Jenny Batty will lead Haly Calderwood, Katie Owens, StephanieFarrar, Jennifer Pollack and Jessica Thompson.
"Really it's about experience," coach Kathy Bull said."Honestly, we just want to get a good two, three matches under ourbelt and go on from there."
The women's team has been plagued with injuries througout thefall season. They also have had limited time practicing indoorsafter traveling last weekend.
The ITA Regionals mark what will probably be the end of the fallseason for both teams as they prepare for their spring season. TheITA Regionals will bring in several MAC schools, as well as otherschools from the region that the Cards will face out of theconference.
Last fall the women advanced Melissa Roach to the round of 32 inthe singles main draw, and Roach and Owens advanced to the round of32 in doubles. The men upset the No. 8 doubles team in the countryto advance to quarterfinals. Baccarani advanced to the round of 32in singles and Mike Heule advanced out of the qualifying singles tothe main draw.
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