After watching his second consecutive serve fall slightly long of left service court, Eduardo Pavia stared at the ceiling of the YMCA Tennis Center and vocalized his frustration.
"Oh my God, land a serve!" the freshman said angrily as he fell behind two games to one against Indiana State University Sunday.
Pavia's aggravation turned the match in his favor, winning 6-2, 6-3 and helping Ball State University to land its second victory in three days.
Friday's 6-1 victory against Eastern Kentucky University and Saturday's 5-2 win against the Sycamores helped to prove the Cardinals can come through in tight situations, coach Bill Richards said.
"It was kind of a strange match," Richards said. "We won a couple very easily, Danny [Vidal] and Joe Vallee won their matches like that. For the most part Eduardo Pavia did too. For those guys it was a matter of getting up and staying up, which they did. Rodriguez came through, which he needed to do. He won the doubles point, then came through and won the first four sets in singles. That's the way to take control of a match. Overall, I thought we were much better."
Ball State won five of six doubles match this weekend, gaining the early doubles points in both contests.
The Cardinals singles play proved to mirror itself, as the men's team rode eight of the 12 singles matches to straight-set wins this weekend.
Bret Berryman and Jorge Rodriguez both dominated their matches 6-0, 6-0 against Eastern Kentucky Friday but struggled against Indiana State. Rodriguez defeated Joshua Smith at No. 6 7-6 (1), 7-6 (1) in the final match Sunday and at the No. 3 spot Berryman lost to Rishi Behl 7-5, 6-3 in one of Ball State's three singles follies in the last two dual matches.
Despite the easy victories, Richards said, his team was fortunate to come away from the weekend with two victories.
"They are a very talented team and I thought we played well," Richards said. "I am happy to pull away from it with a win."
Currently sitting at 5-6 on the season, the Cardinals travel to West Lafayette Friday to try to keep playing consistently and continue improving under pressure, Richards said.
"I think we definitely made progress," Richards said. "Purdue [University] beat Indiana State 6-1, which means [Purdue] is a level above that. All we talked about this year is trying to get better, and that will be a good test for us."
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