After competing among themselves in practice for weeks, the Ball State men's tennis team is ready to play a different opponent.
The Cardinals open their fall season in the 35th annual Milwaukee Tennis Classic this weekend, and players' excitement at practices this week was obvious. Instead of focusing on fundamentals, drills were aimed at improving the finer details.
Senior Dave Thomas said he believes his team is ready.
"Man for man, everybody that I've spoken to on the team is ready to go," he said. "They've been waiting to play matches since the end of last semester, so it's just a matter of taking care of business."
The effort is there, Thomas said, and he knows this last week of practice is important for him and the rest of the team.
"There are always things I know I can work on personally, and as a team we can kind of max out and do things to get better," Thomas said. "So far we've played our intersquad matches, and as a team we've put in our best efforts."
Weeks of practice at the beginning of the season can be a lot for the players. Coach Bill Richards said inconsistency comes with the territory.
"Some days I've felt pretty good about things, and some days I didn't feel so good," he said. "These first two weeks are pretty challenging, both physically and mentally, because we push very hard and we play a lot of challenging matches which can be very taxing."
First-year assistant coach Jeff Nevolo said the guys have looked focused all week.
"The level of practice has risen the last couple days," he said. "I think (the guys) are getting excited for their first real competition of the year. They've been beating each other up for a couple weeks now, and I think it'll be good to see someone in a different color other than our own."
Ball State will compete against Wisconsin, Northwestern and Marquette in the round robin event.
A point system will determine the champions, and a sportsmanship award is also given out. Each round consists of at least three doubles and six singles matches.
Ball State junior Cliff Morrison received singles champion accolades in the 2009 Milwaukee Tennis Classic. He will not participate this fall because of a knee injury.
Mid-American Conference play doesn't begin until January, but Thomas said the Cardinals do not take the fall season lightly.
"Everything in the fall has a knock-on ripple effect on what happens in the winter," he said. "If you're not putting your best foot forward, you might not get that chance to shine in the winter time."
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