For the second straight match, Christine Stromberg was the only Ball State University women's tennis player to come out victorious.
Indiana University, ranked No. 40 in the nation, defeated Ball State 6-1 Sunday.
Stromberg, 3-0 on the year, split the first two sets (7-5, 2-6) with the previously undefeated Lindsey Stuckey. In the third set tiebreaker, the freshman battled back and forth with Stuckey until closing it out with a 12-10 victory.
"She played very well today," coach Kathy Bull said. "She was sitting in that nice comfort zone and played really smart. Honestly, that was the most competitive match we had. For her to come into a match against a Big 10 opponent and step it up, that's unbelievable."
The lineup changes made by Bull didn't help. Sophie Quist lost 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2 singles to Laura McGaffigan. Jennifer Pollack, dropping down to No. 3, fell 6-0, 6-1 to Sigrid Fischer.
Polina Askerko and Emma Retter also switched to No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Askerko lost 6-0, 6-0 and Retter 6-1, 6-2.
At No. 1 singles, Alba Berdala, ranked No. 86 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, downed Haly Calderwood 6-0, 6-1.
"I don't know if we got the right lineup because it's just too tough of a team to play to make those kind of changes," Bull said. "We were in some games, but IU is a bit too strong for us. They had us on our heels most of the time."
The doubles matches also saw similar results for the Cardinals. The No. 1 team of Haly Calderwood and Jennifer Pollack lost 8-0; No. 2 Quist and Stromberg fell 8-3; and the No. 3 team of Askerko and Stephanie Farrar were defeated 8-1.
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