Ball State University's men's tennis team started off strong against undefeated Purdue University by winning the doubles point, but struggled in singles matches, losing 4-3 Sunday.
Coach Bill Richards said he was not disappointed with the loss.
"Everyone played well," Richards said. "We just played a great match and came up short."
Ball State's No. 2 doubles team of Aaron Phillips and Jorge Rodriguez won its match 8-5 against the Boilermakers' Paul Foley and Branko Kuzmanovic. Jarrod Epkey and Joe Vallee also earned a victory in their No. 3 doubles match, 8-6, after a tough loss against Kentucky last weekend.
"For the doubles, it feels good to win as a team," Jarrod Epkey said. "Although, I feel disappointed though that the team didn't win with the singles matches. Obviously coming back after losing that match against Kentucky I feel good that I was able to get through it."
The only Cardinals to win their singles matches were Joe Epkey at No. 1 singles and Vallee at No. 6 singles. Joe Epkey took his match in three sets, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-5. However, Richards said Joe Epkey should not have taken his match into the third set.
"I should have made it a lot easier than it was," Joe Epkey said. "I was up big in the second set. Then I let up a little bit and wasn't playing smart so he got back into it."
Vallee won his match in two sets, going 6-0 and 7-5.
The deciding match was between Bret Berryman and Purdue's Kurt Zaske. The match went into a third set tiebreaker, with Zaske taking it 7-4.
"I was proud of Bret," Joe Epkey said. "He fought hard. We just came up a little short [as a team], and we have to stay up and keep going at it hard."
Jarrod Epkey said the team just needs to improve on committing less errors.
"Overall, we need to cut down on our errors, stupid points and stupid shots," Jarrod Epkey said. "We are doing a better job of fighting out there. We are doing the right thing, it's just that we aren't getting over the hump. Hopefully when [Mid-American Conference] matches come around we'll play better."
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