This weekend showed Ball State University men's tennis coach Bill Richards that his team's performance can drastically change between matches.
The Cardinals lost 7-0 against the No. 8 ranked University of Illinois Friday and fell 6-1 to Northwestern University Sunday.
Richard's team went from playing for standing-room-only crowds numbering more than 500 people in Champaign, Ill. Friday night to a home match against the Wildcats Sunday afternoon at the Muncie YMCA Tennis Center.
Richards said his team was ready to step up for the larger stage but couldn't seem to find that drive for the home opener.
"I saw two different teams out there this weekend," Richards said. "I saw my team handle itself two different ways, and I am not sure what that tells me."
Ball State's season opener was against last year's NCAA runner-up in the Illini. Despite getting swept, the Cardinals battled the squad in the first three matches.
At No. 1 singles, Jose Perdomo was brought down by Ruben Gonzales 7-6(8), 6-3.
The No. 2 and No. 3 singles matchups went to three sets each. Freshman Eduardo Pavia battled Ryan Rowe 6-7(6), 6-2, 10-2 but could not pick up the point, while sophomore Brett Berryman won his first set 6-3 against Billy Heiser but dropped the next two 6-2, 6-3.
"The atmosphere brought out best in our players," Richards said. "We played pretty tough."
However, playing back home three days later showed another side of the Cardinals, Richards said.
"I told our team that Northwestern isn't as good as Illinois on paper, but they will play with mindset that they couldn't afford to lose to Ball State," Richards said. "Our mental and emotional toughness wasn't there."
Against Northwestern, the Cardinals allowed their doubles play set the momentum for the rest of the match.
After the duo of Perdomo and Pavia lost the opening point, the No. 2 doubles combination of Joe Vallee and freshman Shaun Bussert opened with an early 7-5 lead against Peter Rspoli and Alexander Thams. With Bussert serving, the pair failed to hold serve and lost the match 9-8 [5].
Ball State's lone point came when Perdomo defeated Thams, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 1-2.
"In a way I felt like [the doubles match] carried over in singles by giving [Northwestern] more confidence and us not being as confident." Vallee said.
The Cardinals now move on to play IPFW at 1 p.m. Thursday at the YMCA Tennis Center.
Ball State's ability to compete in big matches on the big stage and not on the home front says something important about his team and the upcoming schedule, Vallee said.
"We're close to being very good, but then again we have a lot of work to do," Vallee said.
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