Ball State's women's tennis team returned home this weekend after almost a month on the road with mixed results. After scoring a 6-1 win over Akron on Friday, the Cardinals fell to Buffalo on Saturday in a close 4-3 loss.
"We really let an opportunity slip through our fingers," coach Kathy Bull said. "It's been eating at me for 24 hours now, but I've not quite gotten over it yet."
The Cardinals (12-4, 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference) started things out Friday against Akron. The Cardinals swept the doubles point with Jenny Batty and Stephanie Farrar defeating Courtney Brenkus and Mindy Price 8-0. Jessica Thompson and Katie Owens (8-4) and Jennifer Pollack and Haly Calderwood (8-1) scored wins. In singles, the Cardinals won in the top five spots. Only Allison Thompson, filling in for Farrar who was resting due to back pain, dropped a point, falling to Jennifer Ales 3-6, 6-1, 10-3.
On Saturday, Buffalo came to town and came out swinging. The Cardinals won the doubles point on the backs of Jessica Thompson and Owens and Calderwood and Pollack.
Singles didn't go as well, with Batty, Pollack and Owens dropping in straight sets.
"I think every time you play, you expect one player off her game a little bit," Bull said. "We had three players off their game. They didn't have the right temperament on that day to make the adjustments they needed to win.
"We didn't play up to the ability level, and [that's the] most frustrating thing to have as a coach."
Jessica Thompson and Farrar, who returned to the lineup, scored wins for the Cards. Farrar, who dropped her doubles match, held Buffalo's Sabrina Carmona to three points and won 6-2, 6-1.
"Stephanie went back after she was really disappointed in herself for her play in doubles," Bull said. "And, as my assistant said, she was just about in the zone. She just crunched her opponent."
Jessica Thompson was the only Cardinal to earn two wins, after winning on a tie-breaker in the first set to defeat Kristen Ortman 7-6 (3), 6-2.
"Jess's arm was just killing her," Bull said. "But she used her brain and just took advantage of some opportunities."
Haly Calderwood forced a third set and could have earned the win against Meggie Nenova, but fell 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
The Cardinals return to action at home on Friday when Toledo comes to town.
"We had a long talk Saturday," Bull said. "We have some individual appointments coming up. I think that in order to improve, you have to take responsibility for your losses, and a couple people are not ready to take responsibility. We've got to start there and that's what those meetings are about."
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