For all of the adversity the Ball State University women's tennis team has gone through this season, there aren't any signs of surrender moving forward.
After stumbling out of the gate in Mid-American Conference play, Ball State now holds 1-2 conference record and is 7-9 overall.
Even with those disappointing numbers, the team's confidence is at a high as it gets set to play host to Miami University this afternoon at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center.
"We're definitely not satisfied yet," junior Hayley Hall said. "I mean, we first have to win, but we're not going to be satisfied with just one win. We want to be the best we can and stay in the MAC and try to be substantially better than we were last year."
Ball State has already shown that it has improved from last season's 5-13 record, but the team is interested in doing more than marginally improving.
For coach Amy Behrman, she hopes the signs of a hungry team that emerged last week against Northern Illinois University will continue in today's match against Miami.
"We have to come out and play like we did against Northern Illinois," she said. "We came out really excited and confident in doubles, and we're determined to keep that going. Whether that happens or not tomorrow, we were still fighting, being stubborn, being patient, being willing to avoid making errors and run things down."
The new energy from the team can be described as a commitment to an old idiom: practice makes perfect.
"After coming out of losing streaks, I was still seeing the effort put forth in practice as they just tried to keep their spirits up and stay focused. They know just as well as I do that they can get a win. The just have to keep fighting," Behrman said.
Even in a strong conference, a chance at improving Ball State's conference record to an even 2-2 and possibly earning a winning record past that should only vault the team's desire upward for the rest of the season.
"It's going to be tough but that's always tough for us," said Hall. "There's always some really strong teams, and especially recently it's been really tough for us. But I think we can hang in there with them. There's not going to be any easy matches, but we'll hang in there."
The team's next chance today is no cakewalk, as enters with a 10-6 record. Nevertheless, spirits remain high with every member of the team.
"I think our chances are good," said Behrman. "We had some tight matches so far, but anything can happen. In any, you have to know what's going to happen. As long as we come out with confidence and play hard, we have just as good a chance as anybody."
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