The weather played a factor in men's tennis preparation for the Ball State Invitational, so rain and wind gusts up to 35 mph in the first day of play was nothing unusual for the Cardinals.
Despite the bad weather, Ball State was able to produce solid wins against good opponents, in the 12-team field.
"Everyone did well by doing the best they could out there," coach Bill Richards said. "The guys had good attitudes of dealing with the conditions. It's a matter of finding a way to win, and for the most part we did that pretty well."
In his 39 years, Richards said the weather conditions the Cardinals faced Friday were some of the worst he's ever been a part of.
Junior Andres Monroy had to make his own adjustments to the wind, something he said is tough to do when playing in bad weather.
"It's hard for both players," Monroy said. "Whoever is mentally prepared is going to win. You have to play smarter, especially playing good players."
The meet was not scored for teams, leaving the focus on individual play. One of the standouts this weekend for Richards was sophomore Dalton Albertin, who he says has continued to work his way up in the lineup.
"Dalton had a great weekend for us," Richards said. "He made it to the finals and lost to Xavier's No. 1 player. He beat some players that we have a high regard for."
Albertin was satisfied with his play, but said he began to get worn down by the end of the weekend.
"It became a grind," he said. "I was trying to fight it. In the dual season you don't have many days like that. Eight matches in three days is something you have to fight through. It comes down to who wants to win and not necessarily who's the better player."
Richards said other players that stood out to him were senior Shaun Bussert and junior Zane Smith.
"Shaun had a big win over an Xavier player," he said. "Zane had another good weekend winning two big matches in his bracket.
"As a team we won a lot more matches than we lost," Richards said. "For the most part we had a lot more positives than negatives. We won as many matches as anyone else."
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