After the final match was played in the Texas Invitational last weekend, coach Bill Richards had a conference with his team.
All nine Ball State University players huddled around Richards as he spoke about the team's next step before the dual-match season, which starts Jan. 18.
Richards' tone was surprisingly calm and collected as he challenged his team to get better, senior Jarrod Epkey said.
"[Richards] told us the next two months are ours," he said. "The next two months will determine how we do in January. With 19 Mid-American Conference championships, the program is used to winning. But, we've had a couple struggles here and there. It really doesn't matter what the teams before us have done. He challenged us to make our own name."
Winning has proved to be a problem for the Cardinals so far this season as Ball State did not win a match in the main singles bracket and dropped all of its doubles matches in the final tournament of its fall season.
Looking ahead to January, Richards said his team needs to work hard in its upcoming time away from team play.
"We have many problems to fix in two months," Richards said. "Each player's improvement is solely on an individual basis. I could go through and tell you each player's weaknesses, but that would take too long."
The Cardinals have won three tournament brackets during the fall season. Two of those wins came in the Ball State Invitational, the first tournament of the year, where freshmen Eduardo Pavia and Shaun Bussert won their individual brackets. The third came when junior Jorge Rodriquez and senior Danny Vidal were victorious in the consolation bracket of the Texas Invitational last weekend. They will play their final match later this week.
Injuries have also proved to be a problem for the team this season. The most recent injury occurred when junior Jimmy Brannon hurt his back after falling off of his bicycle a week before the Texas Invitational. In addition to Brannon, both seniors have been playing hurt since the start of the year. Vidal has been playing through a sore shoulder, while Epkey has fought a torn disc in his lower back.
Coming into the dual-match season, Epkey said he knows his role as a senior.
"My job is to encourage everyone and build everyone up," he said. "I don't need to be self-centered about my play. I need to be an encourager and I need to be positive."
With the dual-match season now in sight, the team is setting out to fulfill Richards' expectations. Being reminded of the tennis team's winning tradition, the 19 MAC championships that Richards has won, each teammate thinks the team needs something different to succeed.
Entering his final chance to win a MAC championship, Epkey said that to pull the Cardinals out of this fall's losing rut, the team's mind-set needs to change.
"I think confidence is the biggest thing, in individual matches and as a team," Epkey said. "It doesn't matter who you play, you need to have the confidence to think you can win if you perform. The next two months we need to work hard to achieve that confidence."
As a freshman, Pavia is also aware of Ball State's prowess in the tennis community and said there are reasons other than tradition to bring home a MAC championship this winter.
"We have to do well for the school and our coach," he said.
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