Ball State University's Patrick Thompson and Matt Baccarani ended one chapter short of the championship match, as they fell in the Semifinals of the 2005 ITA All-American Tennis Championship in Tulsa, Okla.
Baccarani and Thompson, ranked No. 15, were defeated by No. 51 ranked Raian Luchici and Brad Pomeroy of North Carolina University 8-4 in Saturday's semifinal match.
"Matt and Patrick played great this weekend," coach Bill Richards said. "We had a good run to get to the semifinals, and it is a great accomplishment."
The loss put the Cardinals out of the tournament after Baccarani and Thompson upset three national ranked teams en route to their semifinals match.
The Cardinals' first upset occurred in the Round of 32 when they defeated No. 12 Zach Ganger and Miron Mann of Utah University 8-4.
The Ball State duo followed up this upset by defeating No. 5 Allan Brandon and Kai Schledorn of Middle Tennessee State University 8-5 in the Round of 16 and No. 2 Green Scott and Wilson Ross of The Ohio State University 8-5 in the Quarterfinals.
"We had a great opportunity to play teams that were ranked higher than us, and we took advantage of that opportunity to play good teams," Richards said.
With reaching to the semi-finals Thompson and Baccarani received bye from the ITA Regional Championship and will automatically advance ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor doubles tournament in early November.
"I'd rather be playing this tournament next week than in a month with the momentum [Matt and Patrick] have, but that is out of our control," Richards said.
Baccarani and Thompson finished the 2004-05 season with an overall record of 30-6 and were ranked No. 45 to end the school year. In addition, the team also earned an at-large bid to the 2005 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship.
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