The Ball State women's tennis team hasn't won a conference match all season, and that streak didn't end on Saturday as the team lost 4-3 to Northern Illinois.
The Cardinals opened the match by securing the doubles point after the No. 2 team of Paola Rodriguez and Sarah Hebble won 8-4, and the No. 3 team of Dena Boulieris and Lauren Pickrel won 8-6.
"This whole season, a big focus has been to get the doubles point," coach Christine Bader said. "And lately, especially in MAC matches, we've been winning the doubles point and focusing on singles and making sure that all six spots come out firing."
In singles, freshman Courtney Wild beat Sara McLaughlin 6-1, 6-1.
Also in singles, Hebble was swept in the first set of her match, but was able to recover and win, 0-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2).
After all of the singles matches had finished, the Cardinals were tied with the Huskies, 3-3 and the match came down to senior Kylee Johnson to win the match for Ball State.
Johnson couldn't get it done, losing 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2.
"(I'm) proud of her that she came back and fought hard and stuck to the game plan in the second set, but then just got off to a really bad start in the third set, which is hard to come back when you dig yourself that big of a hole," Bader said.
After the match, the team hosted the second annual USTA Kids' Day event, where local children could learn tennis from Ball State and play with the team.
"I think it's a really good way to connect with the community," Bader said. "We did it last year, it was really fun for us. The kids really like working with the community. It's just a way to promote college tennis at an early age which is a good thing."
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