The men's tennis squad will be in a familiar situation when it faces Northwestern tonight -- facing a Big Ten team on the road. Ball State (2-1), which faced six of the 11 schools in that conference last year and only hosted one, will again hit the road this season to face the No. 40 Wildcats (2-1).
The Cardinals will look to declaw the Wildcats, who are coming off a tough loss to Oklahoma. Coach Bill Richards said that his team is focusing on improving every week.
"We just hope we can play a good a match and hopefully win four points get a good win," Richards said.
The Cardinals are coming off a slight momentum boost after winning the doubles point against No. 5 Illinois, including a 9-8 (4) upset over the team's fourth-ranked doubles squad of Ryler DeHeart and GD Jones by No. 56 Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson.
"We think we have strong doubles, but in those 8-game pro-sets anything can happen," Richards said. "It's very very unpredictable. Obviously, on the road against a good team like Northwestern it is important to win that point, but afterwards each man has to go out there and regroup and do his best job in singles."
Baccarani will lead the Cardinals in the top singles position, followed by senior Matt Laramore. The rest of the lineup for singles for the Cards will include Tony Epkey, Paul Newman, Jan Polhamus and Thompson, who returns to the lineup after sitting out singles against Illinois.
In doubles, Baccarani and Thompson will again team up in the top spot, followed by Epkey and Brad Rhodes and rounded out by Klint Knable and Newman.
Baccarani, who was named the Mid-American Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week for his performance against Illinois, will lead the team and will likely face his second nationally ranked singles player in a row if he matches up against No. 114 Thomas Hanus.
"He had his ups and down this fall," Richards said. "He played a couple tournaments at home in Canada over the break and has a high level of play."
The Cardinals are trying to gain momentum and experience as they enter their second of four consecutive matches against Big Ten schools.
"I think there were some positives we gained against Illinois," Richards said. "We still have a lot to prove, but we take it match to match and hopefully play better at Northwestern.
"It's kind of early with a limited number of matches. Still, I think we're better (than last year), hopefully that will show against Northwestern."
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