The men's tennis team is back home from Chattanooga, Tennessee,where they participated in the ITA's All American prequalifying andqualifying rounds. The team is home after their doubles teamsfinally fell.
"It was very productive trip, it fit in nice over fall break,"head Coach Bill Richards said. "I thought we played pretty well andlost to tough players."
Two of the doubles teams advanced through the pre-qualificationsand into qualifications, but both lost Tuesday, in the first roundof qualifications. Coach Richards saw improvement from lastweek.
"I think doubles was more of a priority going down there," hesaid. "Unquestionably we played on a much higher level."
Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson lost to Paco Antelo andKarim Benmansour of South Florida. Antelo is ranked 53rd andBenmansour 66th in ITA's singles poll. Antelo appeared in thedoubles poll at 15th, but with a different partner.
Matt Laramore and Brad Rhodes lost to Dustin Taylor andAlejandro Tejerina of Tulsa. Taylor is ranked 58th and Tejerina30th. No Ball State players appeared in this poll.
Ball State fared better in doubles than it did in singles. Noneof the singles players were able to advance out ofpre-qualifications.
Matt Laramore, Michael Heule, Paul Newman, and Brad Rhodes allfaced losses in the first round of singles competition.
Matt Baccarani advanced to the second round of singlescompetition before losing to Vanderbilt's Lewis Smith.
Patrick Thompson won two singles matches before losing to TigranMartirosyan of the University of Kentucky. Both Baccarani andThompson were in the championship match that would have pushed theminto qualifications.
"When you get past the first two rounds there are nothing butquality players," Coach Richards said.
Vanderbelt University finished the regular season in a tie for4th by the ITA last year, while Kentucky finished 16th.
"Those are two top national level programs, with two topnational level players," Richards said.
The team will return to action on the 23rd, at the ITA RegionalChampionship, to the dismay of Coach Richards.
"I don't really like that," he said. "The fall is a difficulttime to put a good schedule together. There's nothing much going onin the Midwest until the regionals."
The annual alumni match will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday atCardinal Creek.
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