The Ball State University men's tennis team played well this weekend but had some tough breaks, coach Bill Richards said.
The Cardinals competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. to finish the fall season.
"We let some matches get away that we'd like to be able to win," Richards said. "It's disappointing when you come close and can't close it out."
Joe Epkey and Aaron Philips each recorded a win in the first round of competition but fell in the second round. Jarrod Epkey encountered a tough first-round match that he was unable to overcome. Joe Epkey said that he needs to get out to a better start in his matches.
"I wasn't pleased," Epkey said. "I obviously wanted to go deeper into the tournament."
In doubles play, the Cardinals went 3-4 on the weekend. The Cardinals recorded a win by the Epkey brothers and two wins from Philips and Jorge Rodriguez. The pairs of Jose Perdomo and Joe Vallee, and Tetta Oyama and Jimmy Brannon both dropped their first round matches.
Doubles play has been the weak point of the Cardinals this season, Richards said. He said that the team will have to focus on improving doubles play during the next three months. Joe Epkey said that the team must improve its volleys, finish off points at the net and eliminate errors to fix its doubles struggles.
"We're missing way too many volleys," Epkey said. "We've just got to keep working hard on our volleys. As far as the fall is concerned, that's our biggest downfall."
Ball State also had singles players compete in the qualifier bracket but none of the players were able to advance. Perdomo was able to win one singles match and Oyama won two matches.
Richards said that the fall was decent for Ball State but not exceptional.
"It was average," Richards said. "I actually don't think we had a good fall. I don't think we had a bad fall. We didn't do anything really significant."
The Cardinals return to action Jan. 13 against IUPUI.
"I felt like I had a pretty good fall," Epkey said. "I got a couple of ranked wins, which is always good to have some of those in the fall so I can set myself up to get ranked in the spring."
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