The Ball State University women's tennis team opens up its Mid-American Conference schedule at 1 p.m. Saturday when Miami University visits the Muncie YMCA Tennis Center.
The Cardinals, who finished their non-conference schedule with a 7-4 record, are hoping the different types of teams that they have played so far will help them post a strong MAC record.
"We have played a variety of teams who all play with different styles," sophomore Katherine Rist said. "So I think that has helped us to prepare for a lot of different situations which could arise throughout the conference season."
Rist also said that she hopes the lessons are learned from the tougher non-conference matches.
"Getting the opportunity to play some good teams such as Indiana and DePaul really showed us what we needed to work in order to beat tougher teams, which we will need all through the MAC," said Rist, who is a combined 7-6 in singles and doubles play this season.
Saturday's match will also feature five of the top freshmen in the MAC: Miami's Anastasia Dracheva, Megan Martzolf and Cara Wald and Ball State's Hayley Hall and Georgina Thomson.
Dracheva earned MAC Player of the Year talk after her non-conference season, in which she posted a perfect 7-0 mark at No. 1 singles and a 5-2 record at No. 1 and 2 doubles; Martzolf is 14-6 combined at singles and doubles this season, 7-3 at No. 2 and 3 singles and 7-3 at No. 1 and 2 doubles, and Wald is a combined 13-9 this season, including a 7-4 singles record.
Thomson, who is a combined 15-7 this season, said the RedHawk freshmen first got her team's attention last fall.
"We saw the strength of their freshmen at tournaments in the fall season," Thomson said. "We've had a lot of time to prepare, and we are just going to go out there and play the best we can against them."
Miami (6-5), which was picked to finish third in the MAC preseason polls, has struggled to win matches away from home this season. Its 1-4 away record could pay dividends for the Cardinals, who are 5-3 at home this season.
Rist said the Cardinals have been working hard on conditioning in practice this week in anticipation for the typically long conference matches.
"We know that to beat Miami and other MAC teams, everyone has to be able to stay tough and fit through long, hard matches, and we want to outlast our opponents on the court," Rist said.
In actionBall State vs MiamiTime: 1 p.m. SaturdayVenue:YMCA Tennis Center
Key matchupNo. 1 SinglesAnastasia Dracheva (Miami), freshman, 12-2 combined singles/doubles record this season (7-0 at No. 1 singles).
Sophie Quist (Ball State), sophomore, 8-9 combined singles/doubles record this season (4-5 at No. 1 singles).
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