Ball State will continue its Big Ten tour when it heads to Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday to face No. 48 Michigan. It's the Cardinals' (2-2) third straight Big Ten and nationally ranked opponent.
The Cardinals fell to then-No. 5 Illinois 6-1 and then-No. 40 Northwestern 4-3 in the past two weeks, and coach Bill Richards expects the Wolverines to be another hard matchup.
"I think they're a little better than Northwestern," he said. "I know (Michigan)'s ranked behind them, but I feel they are a little bit better. They're certainly not as good as Illinois, but for the most part the same team they were last year."
The Cards' loss to Northwestern was the closest they have come to defeating a ranked opponent since they beat No. 48 Purdue in 2003.
"We played fairly well against Northwestern," Richards said. "We will have to play even better against Michigan to get in the match and give ourselves the chance to win."
Michigan's new addition is Matko Maravic, who ended Matt Baccarani's fall season at the ITA Regionals.
The rest of the lineup will include Michael Rubin, No. 70 Brian Hung, Ryan Heller, David Anving and Steve Pertz.
Ball State will make some changes in its lineup. While Matt Baccarani, Matt Laramore and Tony Epkey will retain their top-three spots, the bottom half of the lineup remains in flux. Patrick Thompson and Jan Polhamus will remain in the lineup this week after earning starting spots, and Klint Knable and Paul Newman will play a challenge match for the final spot.
"We have very good depth," Richards said. "We are just still in the process of trying to sort some things out."
The Cardinals will likely keep the doubles lineup they have had all season, with No. 56 Baccarani and Thompson leading the way, followed by Epkey/Brad Rhodes and Knable/Newman rounding out the lineup.
"We'll probably stick with it," Richards said. "We've been winning at one and three, so the only question is Epkey and Rhodes. I thought they played better against Northwestern; we'll probably stick with them for one more match.
"With Laramore there's going to be some consideration there. But with his classes he can't be with us some days, so that kind of hinders his chances with doubles."
As the Cardinals prepare to enter a seven-match home stand, Richards' confidence is high.
"I feel good about (the team) right now," he said. "There's a real thin line. Against Northwestern, with a little good luck, we could have won the match, and with a little bad luck we could have a 6-1 loss."
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