Ball State went into its only road trip of the Mid-American Conference season knowing that the team should win if it didn't look too far ahead. The Cardinals flew through the weekend, dropping only two sets to defeat Buffalo and Toledo 7-0.
On Friday night, the No. 61 Cardinals (16-6, 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference) swept Buffalo (6-8, 2-1 in the MAC). Tony Epkey didn't play, but Brad Rhodes moved into the bottom of the lineup and took the win in straight sets.
Mike Heule and Jan Polhamus also took Klint Knable and Paul Newman's regular doubles spot and defeated Albert Alant and Matt Kennedy 8-5.
"We held [Knable and Newman] out of Friday to give everyone a chance to play," coach Bill Richards said.
Only Matt Baccarani dropped one set to Buffalo's Nick Zieziula, but he came back to win in the third set 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Buffalo went on to defeat Northern Illinois on Saturday.
The Cardinals then traveled to Toledo (6-10, 0-2 in the MAC) to face the Rockets. Epkey returned to play doubles, but sat out again in singles due to tendinitis, hoping to help the healing process.
This time, Polhamus moved into the bottom of the lineup for singles and won in straight sets.
"I thought Toledo was a dangerous team," Richards said. "Their whole lineup was intact. They have had some personal problems with injuries over the season, but they had everyone. I think they're a pretty talented team.
"It's like we always talk, you just make sure you don't overlook them and make sure you're ready to play and play with intensity. That's all I could ask."
The 7-0 win was the Cardinals' third sweep in as many matches in this MAC season as they close in on the MAC championship.
This week, however, they will focus on two teams in the country's top 30 when they play No. 24 Louisville at home on Wednesday and No. 29 Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday.
"We've got a good opportunity with Louisville," Richards said. "We'll think about them first and then think about [Notre Dame] after that. We've got a week without any conference matches, but we've got two opportunities to play two very good teams."
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