In a battle of undefeated Mid-American Conference foes, Ball State University lost to rival Western Michigan University 5-2 on Saturday.
"It's been one of those things where sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't," freshman Brett Berryman said. "It is disappointing that we lost as a team."
The Broncos won in Muncie for the first time since 1982.
Ball State (8-12, 2-1 MAC) lost the doubles point to Western Michigan (15-7, 4-0 MAC). However, the doubles team of Joe Vallee and Jose Perdomo defeated No. 34-ranked Bryan Norville and Alex Birchmeier. Perdomo also won his singles match against the Broncos' Kevin Hayward 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
"It's good to get a win against a ranked team in doubles and a very good player in singles, but it's not about me," Perdomo said. "It's about the team."
Berryman won his singles match against John Pelton 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. The Ball State freshman has struggled this year winning third sets.
"The whole year, I've been struggling to get the third set matches," Berryman said. "I've had like six of them where I haven't gotten [the win], but I finally dug one out. I started to come up with the right shots at the right time [Saturday]."
Vallee and Joe Epkey both had third-set matches with their singles opponents. Epkey was defeated by Tim Bradshaw 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. Vallee lost to Norville, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6.
"Close matches can go anywhere," Perdomo said. "Our captain [Joe Epkey] lost in three sets in a really good match, and [Vallee] lost in three sets, but that doesn't mean they played bad. I think everyone played well we just had hard luck."
The MAC Player of the Week, Western Michigan's Brad Crosby. beat Ball State's No. 2 singles player Aaron Phillips 6-4, 6-2. Jarrod Epkey was defeated by Birchmeier 6-0, 6-1.
"We are just going to keep doing what we are doing, which is focus in practice and have a good week in practice every time we go out there," Perdomo said.
Western Michigan now leads the MAC.
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