Senior Jose Perdomo could do nothing but watch as he swiveled his head from sophomore Eduardo Pavia's singles match to sophomore Shaun Bussert's tiebreaker.
Both Bussert and Pavia needed a win to secure a victory for Ball State University's mens' tennis team in the biggest match of the season against Western Michigan University.
They came up short.
Western Michigan (15-8, 4-0 Mid-American Conference) remained undefeated in MAC play with a 5-2 victory against Ball State (11-9, 3-1 MAC) on Saturday. It was the Cardinals' first loss in the league as they dropped to 3-1 in conference action, 11-9 overall.
"It's very difficult," coach Bill Richards said. "I'm glad we have a match on Monday and don't have to sit around and think about all the missed opportunities. Having the match right on our racket and not being able to close out."
The match lasted more than four and a half hours as five of the six singles matches took three sets to finish.
The doubles point came down to a tiebreaker in No. 2 doubles as Pavia and freshman Andres Monroy lost 9-8 (7-5). Rodriguez with freshman Derek Carpenter were the only Cardinals to win a doubles match, 8-4.
Senior Jorge Rodriguez gave the Cardinals a chance, winning a third set tiebreaker at No. 5 singles.
"We'll get another shot at them," Rodriguez said, referring to the MAC tournament. "It's hard and we got to take it one game at a time. We just have to come through in the chances that we had."
Monroy was the only other Cardinal to score a point for Ball State, winning in straight sets.
Perdomo, Pavia and freshman Cliff Morrison won their first sets - only to lose the next two in each match. Bussert came back winning the second set and was tied all the way with his opponent in the third. Unlike Rodriguez, Bussert lost the tiebreaker.
Ball State now needs Western Michigan (16-9, 2-1 MAC) to lose in its final conference match against the University of Toledo to share the MAC Championship for the regular season.
"Western Michigan has to lose, and they are not going to lose in my opinion," Richards said.
Ball State will try to regroup when the University of Notre Dame comes to Muncie today at 1 p.m. The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 20 in the nation and are 11-10 on the year.
Match breakdownNo. 2 DoublesNo. 1 and 3 doubles were split one each, meaning Eduardo Pavia and Andres Monroy had a chance to put Ball State ahead at No. 2.Western Michigan led 1-0.
No. 3 SinglesCliff Morrison won his first set against Michael Calderone 6-4 then lost the next two sets in a quick turnaround of 6-4, 6-0.Western Michigan led 2-0
No 2. SinglesLike Morrison, Jose Perdomo got off to a good start in his match, winning the first set against Kazuya Komada 6-2 and had a 4-3 lead in the second. Then Komada took control of the match, winning 6-4, 6-2.Western Michigan led 3-0.
No. 4 SinglesAndres Monroy fell behind in the first set 3-0 and came from behind to win in straight sets against Casey Cullen 7-5, 6-3.Western Michigan led 3-1
No.5 Singles Jorge Rodriguez won a third set tiebreaker to defeat Pablo Olivarez.Western Michigan led 3-2.
No. 6 SinglesShaun Bussert lost in the third set tie breaker after splitting the first two games.Western Michigan clinched the victory 4-2.
No. 1 SinglesEduardo Pavia's match took almost three hours as he lost won 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.Western Michigan won 5-2.
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