It had been 10 years and nine matches since Ball State last defeated Indiana, and it did not want to let that streak continue any longer. The No. 72 Cardinals defeated the No. 55 Hoosiers 4-3 at home Thursday.
"It's been too long," coach Bill Richards said. "I knew we had a chance. I thought if we won the doubles point, some of their guys would start to feel a little pressure, and if we got into a couple of the singles match early, I thought we had a chance."
At one point in doubles play, all three of Ball State's squads were behind 4-3. But late runs by the duos of No. 18 Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson and Klint Knable and Paul Newman gave the Cardinals the doubles point.
Baccarani and Thompson defeated Ryan Recht and John Stone of Indiana 8-5, while Newman and Knable took their match 8-6. Brad Rhodes and Tony Epkey fell 8-4 to No. 56 Jakob Praibius and Dima Isatugawou.
"Paul and Klint are such an emotional team, they kind of lead us with their emotion," Richards said. "They were able to get that break and get up. And, at No. 1 we were able to build some confidence."
In singles, the Cardinals dropped four of their first sets, and again, they were fighting out of a hole.
Baccarani was the first Cardinal to win, taking two sets from No. 100 Prabus 6-3, 6-1 to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
Newman wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 win over IU's Tom Basnato, while Knable and Rhodes dropped matches on the backcourts.
Meanwhile, Thompson and Epkey had forced third sets after dropping the first. The Cardinals needed to convert one of the two sets to secure the win.
In the third set Epkey came out firing. After coming out to a 4-1 lead, Epkey earned a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Recht.
Patrick Thompson was unable to defeat Mike McCarthy falling 6-1 3-6 7-6 (5).
Epkey had to move up to the No. 2 spot and Newman jumped up to No. 3, and both won for the Cardinals at the top of the lineup.
"For us to win at one, two and three against Indiana, with our singles play, is pretty impressive," Richards said. "I probably wouldn't have guessed that's where we would have got our three wins, I would have thought we'd have to win somewhere down in the lineup."
Matt Laramore, who usually plays the No. 2 spot in singles did not play due to a shoulder injury, but was in attendance cheering the team on.
"Laramore's kind of our inspirational leader," Richards said. "He's kind of our gutty guy on our team who will die trying. I feel bad for Matt. It's funny, he grew up wanting to go to IU, and they kind of snubbed him and we got him. There is no one he'd rather beat or play than Indiana."
The win was the Cardinals fifth straight and their third over a Big Ten school. The win advances the Cardinals to 7-3 and gives them two victories against ranked teams for the season.
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