What happened to the Ball State University men's tennis team in Las Vegas tells the story of its season -¡- another close defeat to a good tennis team.
Ball State lost to UNLV 5-2 on Thursday as part of its annual West Coast trip.
"They are a good team," coach Bill Richards said about UNLV. "They played better than we did. It was our first outdoor match, and we got a lot out of it."
The Cardinals had their chances against the No. 59 ranked Rebels. Sophomores Eduardo Pavia and Shaun Bussert scored Ball State's only points with singles victories.Senior Jose Perdomo lost a first-set tiebreaker 7-6 before losing the second set 6-3. Freshmen Andres Monroy, Cliff Morrison and senior Jorge Rodriguez lost in straight sets.
Perdomo and freshman Zane Smith won their doubles match 8-3 but the Cardinals dropped the other two.
Ball State is 0-3 versus ranked opponents.
"I'm definitely disappointed with where we are at right now," Richards said. "We haven't had one big win all year, just defeated the teams we were suppose to beat. No bad losses but if you are going to be a good team you have to have good wins."
The Cardinals spent all of Spring Break in Las Vegas. Playing a match out West during Spring Break is an annual tradition for men's tennis team.
"I don't think you can have a successful program if you don't give our players opportunities to do special things," Richards said.
The 7-6 Cardinals will play at Indiana State University on Sunday. All remaining matches are scheduled to be outdoors.
"Some players are better outdoors, some are better indoors so it balances itself out," Richards said.
Ball State vs. ranked teams this season:Vs. Illinois lost 7-0Vs. Michigan lost 6-1Vs. UNLV lost 5-2
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