Riding a three-game losing streak, the Ball State University men's tennis team will try at its match against the University of Eastern Kentucky and Indiana State University at home this weekend to pull out of its slump.
Standing at 3-6 on the season, coach Bill Richards said the Cardinals need to come through in tight situations and find a way to capitalize on opportunities to come out on top Friday against the Colonels and Sunday against the Sycamores.
"They are two very talented and very dangerous teams," Richards said. "I told our guys that they may not show it on paper, but we need to be careful. We haven't won a game against a good team this year and we are going to have to play well to win."
Ball State's inability to come through under pressure can be seen in the individual dual matches. Each of the Cardinals' wins has come from 7-0 sweeps against their opponents.
In the team's losses, the closest match was a 3-4 loss at the University of California Santa Barbara where the three singles matches it dropped went to three sets. Ball State was swept three times, all by ranked opponents, and was almost swept in its 1-6 loss at Northwestern University. Against those teams, 22 percent of the Cardinals' singles performances went to three sets and fell short.
"It's a matter of believing," freshman Eduardo Pavia said. "Anybody on the team knows we can compete with those teams, but we have to believe we can pull out close matches."
Friday's No. 1 singles match against Eastern Kentucky may pit freshman Alex Das Izquierdo against Pavia. Although Richards said he has not made a decision on who will be playing the top spot for his team, Pavia and junior Jose Perdomo have been switching off the role throughout the winter schedule.
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