Coming out of its 6-1 loss at Purdue University Friday, the Ball State University men's tennis team reminded its coach, Bill Richards, how the team has lost seven matches this season.
"It was a carbon copy of other losses we had this year," Richards said. "It was a typical situation with Purdue at home, they are always a tough road win. We had an opportunity and didn't cash in on it."
The Cardinals lost an early doubles point after taking one match to tiebreaker.
The No. 2 doubles combination of Bret Berryman and Eduardo Pavia drop their match 9-8 (7-1) against Purdue's Eric Ramos and P.J. Rose in Ball State's closest doubles contest with the Boilermakers. Jose Perdomo and Jorge Rodriguez dropped the No. 1 spot 8-5, while Joe Vallee and Danny Vidal fell 8-6.
Losing the doubles point to Purdue was bigger than expected for riding momentum into singles, Richards said.
"It's not something you like to think about having a ton of significance because of the six singles matches," Richards said. "We knew if we didn't win the point we would dig ourselves a big hole to climb out of."
Ball State proved to inherit the same trend in its singles play, losing five of six matches. The lone victor was Berryman at the No. 4 position, posting a win against his doubles opponent, Ramos, in three sets.
"I was playing a pretty good player," Berryman said. "I tried to keep my mindset on singles and not the loss of the doubles point. I was able to compete hard, which feels good as an individual win, but it doesn't matter since the team didn't get it done."
The men's squad needs to work on its inconsistencies at No. 1 singles, Richards said.
Pavia, who filled the position Friday, has been switching out with Perdomo. Although it was Pavia's third performance at the top position, Richards said his 1-2 record has not proven to show the type of game needed to lead the Cardinals at the first spot.
However, Perdomo's 4-4 mark has shown his inconsistencies throughout the dual-match schedule and firmly established that the top spot is waiting to be figured out between the two teammates.
"We are really looking for [Pavia or Perdomo] to step up," Richards said. "Jose has the power game, but is a little too inconsistent. Eduardo is more consistent but has less weapons in his game. If they can both improve, it doesn't matter to me or them who starts at the position, we are just waiting for it to come around."
Apparent in its 5-7 record, Berryman said the problems with his team are close to becoming ironed out as the conference season approaches.
"We didn't get it to go our way [Friday]," Berryman said. "We have had some tough luck [this season], but I feel like we are going to figure it all out soon."
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