At the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Midwest Regional tournament last weekend, the Ball State University men's tennis team won four out of eight matches.
Three of those matches were won by a freshman.
Freshman Eduardo Pavia had the most successful regional tournament this weekend in Minneapolis, Minn., as the Cardinals competed against the best players in the Mid-American Conference, the Big Ten Conference and the University of Notre Dame.
"My serving got me through the qualifier," Pavia said. "I haven't been serving that well so it was good to win those three matches."
Pavia beat Marquette University's Steven Shao (7-6(7); 2-6; 6-1), Ohio State University's Ty Schaub (6-4; 4-6; 6-4 ) and Notre Dame's Dan Stahl (7-6; 6-1) to qualify for the tournament's main draw.
"It was a good experience playing with such great players," Pavia said. "You learn from them the more you play with them."
In the main draw Pavia was seated against the University of Iowa's Bart Van Monsjou, who was ranked No. 16 overall in the tournament. Pavia said coach Bill Richards kept telling Pavia to keep his energy up throughout the match.
"[Monsjou] was playing really well, and I didn't start out well," Pavia said. "Then I got into a groove and got a break in the second set that I couldn't hold. If I won that set I would of had a good chance to win the match."
Pavia's loss in the first round of the main draw was the same fate as that of senior Jarrod Epkey and junior Jose Perdomo. All three lost in two straight sets.
"We didn't have the weekend we hoped to have." Richards said. "We tried to make some noise and get people out into the draw, but that just didn't happen."
Going into the regional tournament last weekend, Perdomo was not planned to be in the main draw, but injuries on other teams allowed Perdomo to qualify for the draw without playing in the qualifying tournament.
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