Sometimes the score doesn't indicate how hard a team works to earn a win. This was the case for the Ball State University women's tennis team on Friday. Even though the Cards pulled out a 7-0 win against Youngstown State University, three of the six singles matches went three sets.
"I think we probably contributed to that a little bit," coach Kathy Bull said. "You look at the scores, we got up big on all the first sets, especially on the front tier. And maybe we coasted a little bit."
The most exciting match of the night occurred at No. 2 singles, where Stephanie Farrar defeated Gina Peretti 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. With Farrar up 5-3 and one point away from victory, Peretti responded with a service winner to force deuce. That would be the first of eight deuces in the game. On the third match point, Peretti came through with her first ace of the match to stay alive and force another deuce. Farrar said it came as a surprise.
"It's just a point in time where she needs an ace and she gets it done, twisting the knife a little bit, having lost another match point," she said.
Peretti fought off five match points before Farrar put a backhand down the left baseline to finish off the match.
At No. 1 singles, the second set between Ball State's Jessica Thompson and Youngstown State's Whitney Thomas was also closer than the score indicated. It was an erratic second set as neither player scored on their serve until Thompson in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. After breaking Thomas' serve for the fourth time in the set to go ahead 5-3, Thompson charged the net on the final point and hit a tough shot at Thomas, who smashed a backhand into the net to give Thompson a 6-3, 6-3 win.
MICHIGAN STATE
It was tough going for the Cardinals on Sunday, as the Spartans came to Muncie and left with a 6-1 victory. The lone singles victory came from Katie Owens, who defeated Sarah Andrews 6-3, 7-6. Owens was also victorious in doubles play, teaming up with Farrar to win 8-2.
"Hats off to my senior," Bull said. "It doesn't happen very often to take two matches from a Big Ten team. I'm really happy for Owens. I think she's stepping up and she's being the senior that we've been waiting for."
The Cardinals played well in doubles, losing the other two doubles matches 8-6 and 8-5. However, the play did not carry over into singles, as Thompson was the only player other than Owens to win a set.
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