The Ball State University women's tennis team concluded its fall season with both positive results and areas of weakness to improve on next spring.
The Cardinals competed at the University of Memphis Lady Tiger Invitational this past weekend and yielded results much like the rest of the fall. Coach Kathy Bull said that the team played well this weekend but still has room for improvement.
Doubles play continued to be the weakness for the Cardinals as the team went 1-6 on the weekend. The lone victory was picked up by Jennifer Pollack and Christine Stromberg, who went 1-2.
Bull said that the doubles competition has traditionally been Ball State's strong suit. However, the Cardinals, especially the younger players, have struggled throughout the fall in doubles.
She also said that each doubles team generally consisted of a veteran player with a young player, and that the pairs have struggled to gel together.
"It's been difficult," Haly Calderwood said. "It's been more a struggle than usual."
In singles play, the Cardinals were 7-11 as a team for the weekend. Pollack and Emma Retter each won two matches on the weekend. Pollack lost in the consolation final of Division II to Stephanie Della Cono from University of Southern Mississippi 6-4, 6-3.
Retter lost to Rone'van Wyk of Arkansas State University in the consolation final of Division III singles 6-3, 6-2.
Bull said that she was most impressed with the team's performance against one of the toughest fields the Cardinals have seen this year. She also said that she was impressed with the team's ability to compete Friday after 14 hours of competition and temperatures that fell to 46 degrees by the time the team left the court.
Bull said that the fall season was good for the Cardinals and that she has seen a lot of positives from her young team.
"Great learning experience, a lot of good, solid competition," Bull said. "I saw a lot of growth from the beginning to the end of the fall, so I found it to be very productive."
The players that Bull was most impressed with this fall were veterans Pollack, Retter and Calderwood. Bull said that Calderwood was the team's best player this fall.
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