The women's tennis team (7-6) travels to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois (6-3) on Friday and Saturday. Both teams enter unbeaten in Mid-American Conference play at 2-0. The Cardinals are 1-1.
Head coach Kathy Bull said going into the season Western Michigan was seen as one of the favorites to win the MAC Championship.
"They are always a very deep team with a nationally ranked number one player," she said. "Every year they're very tough. I know they got some freshmen at the semester that we don't really know much about. You always have your hands full when you're playing the Broncos."
Northern Illinois also enters Saturday's match with a ranked singles player, sophomore Cassie Drake at No. 115. Bull said Drake has filled in some of the gaps on the Northern Illinois team, allowing them to have a good spring.
Ball State enters the weekend matches with its longest layoff of the year. The Cardinals have not competed in a match in two weeks.
"The weekend planned off was intentional because of the week-long travel we did to San Antonio, and if you look at our schedule we have not had a free weekend," Bull said.
Ball State will be playing without sophomore Leisa Brooks who is out with stress fractures in her legs. Brooks has spent most of the season as the No. 3 singles player for the team and has paired with sophomore Jenny Batty to form the Cardinals top doubles team.
"She's hitting tennis balls off of a stool right now . . . with me to keep her timing and things like that," Bull said. She went on to say that the injury was discovered over spring break, and Bull does not know when Brooks will return.
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