Will O'Hargan | Asst. Sports Editor
When Ball State entered the Boise State Invitational, the potential second-round matchup between Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the Cardinals was shown to be the obvious exit for BSU.
The No. 52 Cardinals (14-6, 1-0 in the Mid-American Conference) defeated Cal Poly in the first round, but the match was close and the Cards escaped with a 5-2 win despite the fact that four of the six singles matches went into three sets. Ball State then had just one hour to prepare for No. 28 Texas A&M-CC.
The Cards were already worn out from the previous match, while Texas A&M-CC has breezed through their first-round match. The Cardinals were also without Matt Laramore, who injured his back in the morning match.
"I think that we could have given them a tougher match in a better situation," coach Bill Richards said. "We had a match in the morning, had a tough match against a good Cal Poly and had just one hour of turnaround before we faced Corpus Christi, who had a very non-competitive match that morning. We had already been pretty challenged and were pretty worn out. There wasn't going to be a difference in the outcome, but I feel it would have been more competitive if we had played them in the morning."
Following the 6-1 loss to eventual tournament champs Texas A&M-CC, the Cardinals moved to a consolation bracket where they would be battling for fifth place. The Cardinals faced Wichita State in the first round of their consolation bracket and won 7-0. The Cardinals then faced No. 60 Nebraska for fifth place. The Cardinals won the doubles point on wins from No. 42 Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson and Klint Knable and Paul Newman. Newman, Knable and Thompson picked up wins in singles to give Ball State the 4-3 win and fifth pace.
"We really couldn't have done much more than that," Richards said. "We're kind of beat up. We have a lot of little injuries. We've had a couple long trips in the last couple weeks here, but were looking in good shape for the conference season."
"It was four good, hard fought, tough matches. We are a little tired right now and need to slow down the next few days and prepare for the MAC."
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