With a number of holes left to fill after graduation took four seniors and a junior from the team, the men’s tennis head coach has turned to the family of senior Tony Epkey to fill some of the spots.
Tony Epkey’s younger brothers, Jarrod and Joe Epkey, will join the Cardinals for the 2005-06 campaign. Joe Epkey will be a junior, and Jarrod Epkey will be a sophomore. Both transferred to Ball State this year from the University of Southern Indiana.
Tony and Jarrod Epkey teamed up during the summer to capture the doubles title at the ITA National Hard Courts Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
“I am not sure what direction were going to go in,” head coach Bill Richards said. “Any of the Epkeys can start for us in doubles. There is a chance two of the Epkeys will play together in doubles.”
Other newcomers include Jose Perdomo, who will be the third Puerto Rican to join the Cardinals, and Joe Vallee from Gross Pointe, Mich. Vallee was named to the singles first team all-state in Michigan last year.
The Cardinals are coming off a successful season in which they captured the Mid-American Conference regular season and tournament titles. If they hope to repeat the success, however, they will have to do it without Matt Laramore, Paul Newman, Klint Knable, Brad Rhodes and Mike Heule. Laramore has been Ball State’s No. 2 singles player for two years, while Newman and Knable started in singles and doubles for most of the 2005 season.
“It’s definitely a transition year,” Richards said. “That’s a lot of people to lose in one year. That’s a lot of pieces we have to put together in order to be where we were last year, but I think that we can get there. I don’t think it’s out of reach.”
Returning for the Cardinals will be the top doubles duo of Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson, who spent much of the 2005 campaign ranked and finished the season as No. 45 in the country. The two seniors will once again be one of the top doubles squads in the Midwest.
Other returners are Jan Polhamus, Danny Videl and Jimmy Brannon. Only Polhamus received significant playing time last season.
While Baccarani and Thompson have all but secured the top doubles spot, the rest of the lineup will be determined during the fall preseason.
“It will be a lot of evaluation,” Richards said, “a lot of working on whatever problem areas may be there.”
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