For the Ball State University women's tennis team, when it rains, it most certainly pours.
Ball State was defeated 6-1 by No. 72 University of Akron in an away match Friday afternoon, which was moved inside due to heavy rain.
Not only did Ball State's record fall to 7-11 on the season and 1-4 in the Mid-American Conference, but the team's No. 2 singles player went down as well.
Junior Georgina Thomson aggravated her knee in her doubles match and was unable to continue for the rest of the day, forcing Ball State to make some unexpected adjustments.
Every player below her in singles was moved up one spot, placing rarely-used freshman Lauren Pickrel in the No. 6 match.
Ball State was unable to rebound from the loss of Thomson, losing the doubles point early before going on to lose five of the six singles matches.
"Credit to Akron, they're a tough team," coach Amy Behrman said. "The girls continued to do what I asked of them after Georgina went down. When you play a tough team like that, you have to play outside your comfort zone sometimes."
Senior Katherine Rist came away with the lone victory for Ball State, winning in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. It was the second match in row for her to score the only point for the Cardinals.
Buffalo 7, Ball State 0
Playing shorthanded, Ball State was unable find any success in its away match Saturday afternoon, losing to the University at Buffalo 7-0.'s kn
Thomson was held out of the match due to her knee injury, putting Ball State in the same hole it had played in most of Friday.
In the doubles matches, freshman Paola Rodriguez took Thompson's spot, playing alongside sophomore Dena Boulieris. Pickrel played in the No. 6 singles match again.
The lineup changes had no effect toward ending Ball State's now three-match losing streak.
The Cardinals failed to win a set in the singles matches and played no better in doubles, winning only as many as three sets in any of the doubles matches.
It was the fourth time that Ball State (7-12, 1-5 MAC) went scoreless in a match this season.
The Cardinals close out their regular season next weekend as they take on the University of Toledo on Friday and Eastern Michigan University on Saturday.
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