On Saturday, the Ball State University men's tennis team (9-13 overall, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) plays its last regular season home match against Northern Illinois University (8-10 overall, 0-3 MAC).
Joe and Jarrod Epkey both did not play in singles in the Cardinals' win against IPFW Wednesday. Coach Bill Richards said this was because he wanted them to be ready to play in the match Saturday. Northern Illinois is the Cardinals fifth match in 11 days.
"When you are playing as many matches as we are right now, we want to have everyone physically fresh and ready to go," Richards said.
Aaron Phillips was injured in the match Wednesday, and it is still unclear as to when he will be returning to the Cardinals' lineup.
"He is definitely out for the weekend," Richards said.
Richards gave the majority of the players a day off from practice on Thursday, but a few players, like Tetta Oyama, had an easy practice.
"We didn't practice Thursday, because we played matches both Tuesday and Wednesday," Richards said.
Right now the Cardinals are only thinking about Saturday, even though the conference tournament starts April 26.
"We are not thinking about the tournament," Richards said. "We are thinking about trying to secure the No. 2 seat in the MAC."
At this point in the season, there is not much the Cardinals can do to prepare for the matches besides getting mentally prepared.
"We just have to be prepared mentally, and physically we just need a good night's sleep," Oyama said.
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