As Sophie Quist was sidelined for the Ball State University women's tennis team's match against Butler University on Wednesday, head coach Kathy Bull said the Cardinals were missing more than their No. 1 singles player and half of their No. 2 doubles team.
Bull said her team was also missing something mentally, and Ball State lost 4-3 to the visiting Bulldogs (6-7).
"With not having Sophie, technically all five other tennis players were displaced slightly [in the lineups]," Bull said. "I think the biggest difference was that in the middle of the singles lineup we kind of lost our composure a little bit in my opinion."
Quist, a sophomore, did not play due to a nagging shoulder injury. Her team initially responded by winning the doubles point after seniors Jennifer Pollack and Haly Calderwood defeated Butler's Natali Jaimes and Gabi Bobrowski 8-5 at No. 1 and freshman Georgina Thomson and sophomore Katherine Rist won 8-3 at No. 2 against the Bulldogs' Molly Casperson and Becky Jenkins.
"We think we have a lot of athletes on our team that need to continue to develop to play smarter," Butler head coach Jason Suscha said. "In doubles, I don't think we played particularly smart at No. 1 and 2, while Ball State played solid at doubles."
When the match turned to singles play, the Cardinals (6-4) were mostly able to keep the scores close in the first sets. As frustration set in the second sets, however, the success rates went down. Calderwood lost 7-5, 6-3 at No. 1, Pollack lost 7-6, 6-2 at No. 2 and Retter lost 7-5, 6-3 at No. 3.
"We didn't quite have the right attitude on every court today, and that's what we really needed," Bull said. "Sometimes you just have to change your game and you just have to put one more ball back in play - it doesn't matter how pretty it is - but we weren't willing to do that today, so we didn't deserve to win."
Ball State did get singles wins out of freshmen Hayley Hall at No. 4 and Georgina Thomson at No. 5.
The Cardinals next play at home on Friday against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at 1 p.m.
Singles scores
- Molly Casperson (BU) def. Haly Calderwood (BSU) 75, 6-3
- Natali Jaimes (BU) def. Jennifer Pollack (BSU) 7-6, 6-2
- Gabi Bobrowski (BU) def. Emma Retter (BSU) 6-4, 6-1
- Hayley Hall (BSU) def. Becky Jenkins (BU) 6-4, 6-1
- Georgina Thomson (BSU) def. Tiffany McLoughlin (BU) 6-3, 6-4
- Michelle Hawes (BU) def. Katherine Rist (BSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
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