After three months of construction and $850,000, the Ball State University men's and women's tennis teams will have renovated facilities for the upcoming season.
The Cardinal Creek Tennis Center, located north of the Duck Pond, opened Monday for the first time since being closed for renovations in early May.
Renovating the 12 tennis courts included replacing the tennis courts' asphalt and building a new drainage system with the water from the courts flowing into the Duck Pond. Also, a new lighting system was installed around all the courts.
"Ascetically it is going to look tremendous," Dan Byrnes, director of sports facilities, said. "We are going to probably have the best courts in northeast Indiana."
Since opening in 1977, this was the first major renovation for the tennis facility.
Women's tennis coach Kathy Bull said she is thrilled about the renovation, and it has been a long time coming for her and men's tennis coach Bill Richards.
"Coach Richards and I have been waiting and asking for years, and it was nice to watch the process," Bull said.
The renovation project's biggest benefit is it will be safer to play on the courts, Bull said. She said a large amount of cracks had appeared on the courts the last few season.
"There is safety with knowing water won't be coming up through the cracks," Bull said. "It will be quite nice with court not being slippery and having to dodge cracks."
Richards said the cracks were so bad on the old courts that water would come up from the cracks even if it had rained in a few days because of the poor drainage system.
Originally the tennis courts were supposed to be complete by Aug. 3.
However, Byrnes said a two-week delay isn't a tremendous delay for this type of project. Also, he said rain pushed the project back and the athletic department set an early completion date for the courts to be fully operational.
"It was a very smooth construction project," Byrnes said.
Both coaches said the construction delay didn't affect any scheduled team workouts.
Bull said the delay will make the playing surfaces better because the top layer of cement has now had a chance to settle into the ground.
"The best thing is to let it sit," she said. "The more you let it sit and mature, [the playing surface] improves."
Bull said the university is taking more security measures to ensure the courts' surfaces remain in good condition and students aren't doing anything inappropriate on the courts, such as inline skating.
"There was a time where it was open 24 hours and never supervised," she said. "[The courts] are going to be locked and a Rec Service person will be there to take student IDs."
The first collegiate event on the new tennis facility is the men's tennis team's Ball State Fall Invitational Sept. 14. The women's tennis team's first home match is the Ball State Invitational Sept. 28.
Richards said teams returning to Muncie for the men's tournament will like playing on the new courts.
"I think every team, or a lot of teams, will be very impressed with what they see," he said.
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