Standing in line with their arms folded, the Ball State University men's tennis team was silent as the last point of a 7-0 defeat to the University of Michigan skidded past Joe Vallee's racket.
The Vallee loss at No. 4 singles was the team's final chance to land a victory in its Saturday night contest at the YMCA Tennis Center.
After losing to two nationally ranked teams in four games, the Cardinals want to prove they can still play at that level, senior Danny Vidal said after the loss.
"We know we can compete with them," Vidal said. "It really showed our character. We played hard and can use that confidence the rest of the season."
Doubles continued to be a problem for Ball State on Saturday. At No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, the tandems of Jose Perdomo and Eduardo Pavia as well as Vallee and Shaun Bussert both lost 8-3 after trading points early in the match but seeing their Wolverine foes pull away in the later games. The Cardinals have not won a doubles match against Big Ten opponents this season.
In singles play, three Ball State matches went to tiebreakers. The first set of No. 1 singles match between Perdomo and Jason Jung ended with Perdomo losing 7-6 (5) and slamming his racket into the wall. Vallee was the one Cardinal to take a match to three sets, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (10-6) in the loss.
"When you are playing a team like that you have to believe that you will come through in tight situations," coach Bill Richards said. "We had an opportunity and just didn't cash in to make it closer than it was."
Within the last four matches, the Cardinals are 1-3 and have lost to No. 8 University of Illinois, No. 21 Michigan, and 4-1 Northwestern University. Despite winning 8-of-21 dual match points this season, Ball State took half its singles matches to tiebreakers when playing both ranked opponents. The team's current record is the same as its standing at this point last year, but the Cardinals played no top 25 teams within the first four matches of the 2007 season.
Ball State ends its five-game homestand as it takes on the University of Valparaiso and the University of Indianapolis on Saturday.
Putting two ranked opponents behind them, Vidal said the confidence to play at a high level won't go away as the Cardinals move on to the next 19 matches of the winter schedule.
"That's Ball State tennis," Vidal said. "We won't give up. We are here to play those teams and fight to the end."
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