The Cardinals (3-2) fell 4-0 at Indiana University (3-2), which halted their hopes of starting a winning streak.
Ball State had a rough start to the match, causing them to lose in doubles play 2-0. Graduate student Vince Orlando and junior Nathaniel Webster lost 6-1 at No. 1 doubles. Meanwhile, graduate student Eli Herran and freshman Drew Hayward lost 6-3 at No. 3 doubles.
Head coach Bill Richards expressed his disappointment with the match results.
“We're disappointed we lost,” Richards said. “Unfortunately, we didn't convert on opportunities we had to convert on.”
The Cardinals didn’t have much luck in singles play either.
At No. 2 singles, Orlando fought hard, but ultimately lost 2-6, 1-6. Junior Mason Tran at No. 3 singles lost the first set 1-6. He battled his opponent back in the second set, which led to a tiebreaker that favored Indiana 7-6(5). At No. 5 singles, redshirt junior Sajin Smith lost 7-5, 6-3.
“We had all kinds of opportunities to put ourselves in a position to win. We didn't come through in those situations even though it was 4-0 it was a lot closer than that,” Richards said. “We worked hard, competed well, and put up a good fight.”
At No. 1 singles, Webster lost the first set 2-6, won the second 6-4, and was up 1-0 in the third before matchplay was suspended. Herran at No. 4 singles split sets losing 2-6 in the first, winning the second 7-5, and, before matchplay was suspended, he was up 2-1 in the third.
Sophomore Broc Fletcher won the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 and was up in the second 5-4 before matchplay was suspended.
Richards expressed that his team doesn’t prepare differently for anyone and that his team is capable of taking on Michigan State (4-0) at their next match.
“[I] just want them all to try to play their best,” Richards said. “We just [try to] control what we can do in terms of our attitude and effort.”
The Cardinals will attempt to find the win column when they take on the Spartans on Friday, Feb. 2nd at 2 p.m.
Contact Lauren Graham via email lauren.graham@bsu.edu.
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