Ball State will begin its Mid-American Conference season this weekend at Bowling Green.
On Saturday, the Cardinals (10-3) will face the Falcons (8-4), who they closed the season against with a 4-3 win last season.
"We're ready for it," coach Kathy Bull said. "We're excited about getting it started. We've completed one phase of our season, and now it's time to step it up and take it to the next level. It's time to get after it."
The Cardinals have not been in action since Spring Break, when they went 3-0 during their time in Phoenix. Bowling Green has also been idle, having not played competively for 27 days.
"We have these classic battles," Bull said. "Our teams are very similar. We have four freshman who have heard about it, but they've never played in a MAC game. They're listening intently, and all they can do is prepare and take the first one."
The Cardinals have a young team, with Jenny Batty the lone senior on the squad. The Saturday match will be their last tennis match on the road until April 15.
The Cardinals' doubles lineup consists of the duos: Batty and Stephanie Farrar, Jessica Thompson and Katie Owens and Haly Calderwood and Jennifer Pollack.
The usual starting lineup for singles is Batty, Jessica Thompson, Calderwood, Pollack, Owens and Farrar, though Allison Thompson has also seen playing time this season.
The MAC has ten schools that participate in women's tennis. Last year, the Cards had a 5-4 record in the MAC and lost to No. 4 seed Miami in the opening round of the MAC tournament.
"You have to bring your best games," Bull said. "It's very important that we have a great team effort. The bottom line is we need to have a performance that we are very content with to have any success this season."
Bowling Green placed seventh in the MAC last season and had a 3-6 record.
"We usually expect a very high-energy team," Bull said. "They're going to swing away, really freely. We expect a very rowdy atmosphere when we go to Bowling Green. We've tried to talk about that to the team"
"I think we realize we have to work the match, while they're going to go for it and they're hitting, they're going incredibly tough. But if we're hitting, we're going to be tough.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
