Ball State was able to tie, but unable to beat its longest winning streak in two years as the Cardinals split the weekend with a 5-2 win over Cincinnati before falling to Michigan State 6-1.
"Well, two kind of very different matches, I will say that," coach Kathy Bull said.
The Cardinals (5-2) started the weekend on Friday against Cincinnati. The Cardinals swept the doubles point, despite some irregulars in the lineup.
"I was really pleasantly surprised," Bull said. "We had to throw new lineups on the floor, and I didn't know how we would respond to that, but we responded well, especially in doubles."
In singles Jenny Batty defeated Christina Reyes 6-3, 6-2; Haly Calderwood won 6-1, 6-2 over Samantha Lui; Stephanie Farrar had a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Lindsay Brown; and Allison Thompson scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over Madison Reasoner. Jennifer Pollack fell 7-6 (3), 6-2 to Julie Klauck, and Jessica Thompson fell to Jill Klauck 6-2, 6-2.
"[Jessica] wasn't 100% on her game on Friday, and she was playing a girl we call a human backboard," Bull said. "She just hits the ball back. So you have to define the pace. We changed the style of play a number of times. She just couldn't get the job done."
Katie Owens did not play.
The Michigan State match did not go as well.
The only win came for Calderwood, who won 1-6, 1-2 because Pascale Schnitzer retired in the second set.
"Today's match was very different," Bull said. "We were facing some bigger hitters on a facility with faster floors, and our younger players didn't respond to the situation. Some of our underclassmen really got overwhelmed."
"There is a big difference in stepping up to the Big 10 opponent, and by the end of the match our younger players realized that it wasn't really that big of a deal, but by then the damage had been done."
Only Jessica Thompson and Farrar were able to score more than two games in one set.
"[Jessica] had her head on straight all day," Bull said. "She grew up a lot today."
The Cardinals have another long break -- their third of the season -- before they face Southern Illinois and Youngstown State on consecutive days.
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