As the men's tennis season winds down, Ball State has its final non-conference matchup when Louisville comes to Muncie today.
No. 62 BSU (16-6) faces No. 27 Louisville (18-8) in a battle of the Cardinals.
"They have a very high level of talent, a high level of play," coach Bill Richards said. "To beat them, were going to have to play our best match of the year -- not necessary by a huge amount, as I feel we've played very well throughout the year. But it's going to be our best effort, and we're going to have to win some close ones."
Among the anticipated matchups between the two squads will be at the top doubles where the No. 25 tandem of Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson will face No. 29 Jakob Gustafsson and Jeremy Clark. Louisville's Damar Johnson is also ranked No. 74 in the latest rankings.
The Cardinals will have their regular lineup of Baccarani, Matt Laramore, Tony Epkey, Paul Newman, Thompson and Klint Knable in singles, and Knable and Newman will occupy the No. 3 doubles slot. Richards had not yet decided which duo among Epkey, Laramore and Brad Rhodes would play in the second doubles slot.
Despite Ball State and Louisville playing in each other's fall tournaments, Richards says many of Louisville's players remain an unknown heading into the matchup.
"We didn't play them last year," he said. "So, the last time we played them was two years ago. They have just have two of those players remaining.
"We're getting some information on some of the players that we don't know much about. We know know they're very strong; you don't get to be ranked No. 24 [Louisville's highest ranking of the year] in the nation if you're not a very good team."
Richards added that Louisville's talent level would be near the second tier of Midwest teams, below Illinois and Ohio State. He acknowledges that his team is not favored in this matchup.
"Hopefully, when you're the underdog, you would like to put yourself in a position with a chance to win in every match," Richards said. "You can't go out and get rolled over in two or three matches right away and then put all the pressure on the rest of your guys. We need to give ourselves a chance everywhere. When you do that, you get a chance to win the team match."
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