Autumn is unique for college tennis teams. It's not about wins or losses. It's not a time where scores reflect on the whole team, but instead on individual playing.
Ball State uses the fall to participate in tournaments individually to improve before Mid-American Conference action in the spring, when it becomes about the team result.
A couple of months ago the Cardinals' roster looked shuffled. They lost last year's No. 1 singles player Eduardo Pavia, who transferred to Florida, and new No. 1 singles player Cliff Morrison to a knee injury.
There were a lot of questions, and after the conclusion of the fall season with the ITA Regional Championship, they're finding some answers.
"If you look where we started the fall, we didn't have the cushion we thought we'd have," coach Bill Richards said.
"Pavia left us high and dry, and that was a big loss we can't really put into words. Then you have Cliff who can't compete because of his injury.
"You take our top two players out and look at how we did, and for the most part, we did a very good job. We had a lot of improvements, and we raised our level of play."
After having to sit out all fall with bursitis in his knee, Richards said the daily treatment Morrison received is finally paying dividends.
Richards said Morrison received a cortisone shot several weeks ago and everything is looking good so far. Morrison has been able to do light practicing and is slowly strengthening his knee.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed. So far we haven't had any problems," Richards said. "We're encouraged at this point because we all know [Morrison] is a big factor for us if you look at who we're putting out on the court this fall. If you add Cliff to that mix, that makes us a solid team."
Another positive for the fall has been sophomore Dalton Albertin. Coming into this year Albertin was a bottom-six singles player. Now, his stock has risen. He is competing for one of the top spots in the lineup.
The next few months will be like another offseason for Ball State. They're not allowed to practice as a team anymore, and the time they can practice is limited to eight hours.
Albertin said with the fall season ending, the amount of work the players do is now up to them.
"[Practicing] is pretty much up to everyone individually," he said. "For myself, I'm going to try to condition and hit every day. It will just depend on what everyone wants to do."
Albertin has made name for himself as the top performer in almost every tournament this fall. He plans to get as much out of this break as he can so he doesn't lose his rhythm.
"I'll play in our indoor courts and do feeds," Albertin said. "I'm going to try to play two hours each day and do conditioning on the side. I've felt like I've made a lot of progress, and if I stop what I'm doing, I'll lose some of that."
Richards said these next couple of months will be spent looking over the positives of the fall. He will meet with his players individually and evaluate each performance to point out the strengths and weaknesses of each player's game.
"If you look at the composition of our team and the fall [season], we saw a few pieces be put together in our doubles and lineup positions," Richards said. "It could be very competitive for playing time come January."
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