On Sunday, the Ball State University men's tennis team defeated the University of Toledo 5-2 in Mid-American Conference action.
Coach Bill Richards said last year when Ball State played Toledo, it was a match which the team believed they should have won by a larger margin. This year, that was extra motivation for the Cardinals to play well.
"I think some of the guys had a little extra incentive because we had a tougher match last year than we should have had," Richards said. "I thought Toledo was competitive, and we expected them to have a good team."
The goal for the Cardinals this season is to once again win the conference title. The team's hopes are still alive after Sunday's victory, moving the Cardinals to 2-0 in the conference after beating Buffalo and Toledo.
"Any conference match you play, you have to play as though it's for the conference championship," Richards said. "We have the mind-set of taking one match at a time."
Aaron Phillips said the team feels good after getting the win, but they still have things to work on.
"We came about with more attitude and aggression on Sunday," Phillips said.
The Cardinals started the match out strong winning the doubles point.
At No. 1 singles, MAC Player of the Week Joe Epkey defeated Toledo's Mohammed Al Nabhani in two sets, 6-2, 6-0. The Cardinals No. 2 singles player, Phillips, also won his match against Jared Miller in two sets, 6-3, 6-4. Number five singles player Joe Vallee (6-4, 7-5) and No. 6 Bret Berryman (7-5, 6-3) also won in two sets.
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