Ball State University women's tennis seniors Jennifer Pollack and Haly Calderwood did not want to make a complete waste out of a weekend tournament in Bloomington.
The pair, whose team entered Saturday's play winless in nine matches, earned the Cardinals' one win of the Indiana Doubles Tournament with a 9-7 victory against Bowling Green State University's Andrea Volle and Jenna Nussbaum.
"It was nice to finally win a match," said Pollack, whose team finished fifth out of five teams with a 1-14 record in the two-day tournament. "We had very high energy from the start and were able to maintain it throughout, which is something we struggled with on the first day."
Calderwood said she felt good in her team's first competition of the spring season.
"We played the way we wanted to [against Volle and Nussbaum] and took control of the match," Calderwood said. "It's something we want to remember and continue to do."
Ball State head coach Kathy Bull said the tournament was "a good wake-up call" for her team.
"We have to get focused and need to do a better job on our daily work," Bull said. "I think [Ball State] got that message. They have a day off and then they know what's coming."
The tournament, which is treated more as an exhibition because it does not count towards team records, allows the teams look at various doubles tandems.
"We had to test the waters and try some different combos," Bull said.
Calderwood said she hopes her team can eventually convert the close losses into tough wins.
"I think our team has a lot to gain," Calderwood said. "Even if the scores weren't always close, the actually matches were long and quite competitive. I think our team realizes we need to believe in ourselves a bit more and then we can turn some of those matches into wins."
Host Indiana University topped the field with a 16-4 record.
The Cardinals return to action against the University of Dayton Saturday at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center.
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