At least a portion of the Mid-American Conference championship will be determined this weekend.
The Ball State University men's tennis team will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to play the Western Michigan University Broncos, who will both come into Saturday's match at a perfect 3-0 in MAC play. The winner will clinch a share of the MAC championship with the chance to win it outright the following weekend.
For the first time this season, however, the No. 74 Cardinals (16-6) will not be favored in a conference match. The Broncos (22-3), which were picked to finish second in the preseason behind Ball State, have tied a school record for most wins in a season and are ranked No. 52 in the nation.
Ball State coach Bill Richards said that being a slight underdog could serve his team well.
"I think maybe the favorite can feel a little bit more pressure and a match like this," he said. "To a large degree, it can really come down to who handles the pressure the best."
Last season, Ball State defeated Western Michigan in the regular season and in the MAC Tournament championship match, but this year's Broncos team is much improved. Two of the Broncos' three losses have come against ranked teams that Ball State also lost against, the University of Michigan and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. The Broncos' only other loss was against Texas Tech University, another ranked opponent.
"They got off to a real good start this year, and they've just maintained it," Richards said. "We've had a very good year, and certainly a year that we can be proud of, but Western's had just a little bit better year. But it all comes down to one day right now. We'll just go up there and give it our best shot. We certainly feel good about our chances."
Following Saturday's match, both teams will have one remaining MAC opponent before the MAC Tournament begins. Western Michigan will face the University of Toledo, which lost to Ball State last weekend 4-3, and the Cardinals will play Northern Illinois University, which fell to the Broncos 7-0 last weekend.
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