The Ball State University women's tennis team's record fell to 1-33 all-time against Miami University with a 5-0 loss in the Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinals, which were held on April 25.
The No. 7-seeded Cardinals [9-11, 2-5 MAC] fell behind early after being swept in the opening doubles matches. Ball State's No. 1 doubles team of seniors Haly Calderwood and Jennifer Pollack and the Cardinals' No. 2 team of sophomore Sophie Quist and freshman Georgina Thomson were defeated 8-1. The losses gave the No. 2-seeded RedHawks [14-7, 7-1 MAC] the doubles' point and an early lead.
Ball State's No. 3 doubles team of junior Emma Retter and sophomore Katherine Rist were also trailing 7-2 when Miami won the point.
Miami's dominance continued into the singles play, where the RedHawks won five of the six singles matches in straight sets.
Ball State freshman Hayley Hall was the only Cardinals player to force a third set with a 2-6, 6-2 score. It was insignificant to her team's chances, however, because Miami had already won the match by the time she was ready to begin her third set.
"I felt really good out there," said Hall, who finished her freshman campaign with a 13-8 combined singles/doubles record. "I had been struggling and wasn't able to play much before that match, so I was trying to get back in the mindset of playing competitive tennis. Once I started going to get back into it, I really wanted to win."
Hall said she was proud of the effort exerted by her team, but a slow start in singles contributed to her team's demise.
"We had started off a little slow in the beginning," Hall said. "I thought we were getting tougher in the second sets. It's too bad that we didn't start out that intense."
The RedHawks advanced to April 26's semifinals against sixth-seeded Buffalo, where the Bulls claimed a 4-2 victory and eventually would upset top-seeded Western Michigan in the championship match.
The Cardinals open up their fall season in August.
Pollack earns academic honor
Five days after graduating from Ball State, Pollack was named Academic All-MAC for the second straight year.
The senior was team co-captain with Calderwood and owned a 3.98 grade-point average with a major in advertising, according to the Ball State athletics Web site.
She is also a three-time Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Academic Team and 2007 Academic All-MAC selection and was named an ITA All-America Scholar Athlete in 2006.
Pollack is a four-year recipient of the Presidential Scholarship and also received the Lowell F. Crouse Journalism Scholarship at Ball State. She accumulated a 14-26 record this season.
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