Wright State proved to be no match for the Ball State University women's tennis team, as they cruised to an 6-1 victory over the Raiders Thursday afternoon.
The doubles teams, a strength of this year's squad, showed their mettle as they swept all three matches. The No. 2 doubles team of Stephanie Farrar and Katie Owens cruised to an 8-1 victory. Farrar said the familiarity between her and her teammate makes them tough to beat.
"We played doubles together in the fall so we were very comfortable playing with each other and we know each other's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to doubles," Farrar said. "I always have a lot of fun when I play doubles with Katie. It's a little more exciting and a little more fast paced."
The No. 1 team of Jessica Thompson and Haly Calderwood defeated Tiffani Foster and Audra Beckett, while No. 3 Jennifer Pollack and Emma Retter held off Jessica Lee and Karina Presti 8-5.
Coach Kathy Bull said the match went how she expected.
"I was happy with the way we competed," Bull said. "Doubles is a strength of ours and we understood the doubles games better than our opponents."
At No. 1 singles, Thompson started out hot in the first set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before Foster won six consecutive games to win the set.
"We noticed that on set point, [Thompson] didn't even go for the ball and it was right over her shoulder," Bull said. "I told her to keep getting the ball deep and that she wasn't hitting it as hard as she should have."
After winning the second set tiebreaker 8-6, Thompson was able to come away with a three-set victory.
The Cardinals took five of the six singles matches. No. 2 Farrar defeated Calbertson 6-1, 6-4; No. 3 Calderwood lost to Beckett 5-7, 2-6; No. 4 Pollack beat Lee 6-2, 6-2; No. 5 Owens won Presti 6-4, 7-5, and No. 6 Retter downed Ames 6-1, 6-2.
Bull said she was impressed with the play of Pollack.
"Pollack had a tough year last year," Bull said. "I liked the way she handled herself and controlled the court."
KANSAS
The team will travel to Bloomington, Ind., on Sunday to take on the Kansas Jayhawks. A former assistant in the Mid-American Conference is currently a coach in Kansas and set the match up.
"It's a great opportunity to play someone as good as Kansas," Bull said. "It's an easy trip and playing that quality of opponent will only make us better."
This will be the first match of the season for the Jayhawks. Match time is 2:30 p.m.
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