After almost three weeks of rest since the Ball State men's tennis team's last tournament, the Cardinals return to action today with the start of the ITA Fall Individual Regional Championships in Knoxville, Tenn.
Coach Bill Richards said he is stressing to his players this week how vital it is that the team play well in this competition.
"It's the most important tournament in the fall," he said. "It shows individually where you stack up with everyone else in the Ohio Valley Region."
Ball State is coming off a successful tournament, as it hosted the Ball State Invitational three weeks ago. Singles players performed well, but doubles play left Richards unsatisfied with the team's level of play through the tournament.
Ball State will have a chance to improve on its play this weekend, but will once again be without the services of Andres Monroy and Cliff Morrison, two of its top players who are out with injuries for the remainder of the fall season.
Richards said his expectations for Ball State in the Regional Championships depend primarily on what kind of players his team will have to play against.
"It depends so much on who you play. The draw really dictates a lot," he said. "Every time our team could draw a seeded player and lose first round. We can draw some lower line up players from some other schools. I haven't seen the draw yet, but it's certainly an individual thing. We evaluate each individual on who they play and how they play. Obviously, if they have a good tournament, they can win matches."
Play will begin this morning and concludes Sunday.
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