The No. 70 Ball State University men's tennis team took care of business this weekend by winning two matches Saturday to improve its record to 7-3 on the year.
The Cardinals faced Indiana State in the first match and defeated the Sycamores 5-2.-á The Cardinals won all three doubles matches in the contest and four of the six singles matches. The two matches the Cardinals lost were in the top two slots.
Coach Bill Richards said he was disappointed his team lost those two matches, but not at the effort put forth by Joe and Tony Epkey at No. 1 and No. 2 singles.
"The number one player for Indiana State is extremely talented," he said. "Joe just has to get better at not losing several games in a row. Tony's opponent has an awkward style of play."
Against Valparaiso, the Cardinals had an even easier time. The team won 7-0 and took every singles match in straight sets. Richards said the team did a good job of coming into the Valparaiso game with the right amount of intensity thanks to some of the players on the team who normally do not play as much.
"[Danny] Vidal at four, [Joe] Vallee at five, and [Jose] Perdomo at six, bring extra motivation and fire when they have the opportunity to be out there. It kind of rubs off on everyone," Richards said.
The normal lineup for the Cardinals was a little bit different this weekend due mainly to injury concerns. Baccarani, who normally plays both No. 1 singles and doubles for the Cardinals sat-out both singles matches due to tendinitis in his shoulder. Richards said he did not want to press the situation by playing Baccarani too much with two big match-ups against IU and Purdue this weekend.
Baccarani said he's dealt with the injury before but it is starting to hamper him again.
"It's just like in the last few days. It doesn't hurt at all over my head when I'm serving. It's kind of a chronic thing," Baccarani said. The injury would not prevent him from playing this coming weekend.
Baccarani also teamed with a different doubles opponent this weekend in junior Joe Epkey instead of his usual partner, senior Patrick Thompson. Baccarani and Thompson are currently the No. 4 ranked doubles duo in the nation. It was a move Richards said he hoped would shake things up somewhat for the Cardinals.
"They hadn't played real well. When you are ranked No. 4 in the nation, everyone comes out shooting for you," said Richards, who also mentioned that at some point Baccarani and Thompson would be playing together again.
Jarrod Epkey, who has been bothered by a back injury, played in the Indiana State match but was held out of the day's second match.
"We just didn't feel he could tolerate two matches in one day," Richards said. "He sees the doctor tomorrow. We have a lot of guys kind of nicked up right now."
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