Ball State entered the Milwaukee Tennis Classic on Friday confident it could come away with positive results in its first tournament of the season.
By the tournament's end, injuries and inconsistencies kept the Cardinals from getting the results they wanted.
Coach Bill Richards said the injuries to seniors Andres Monroy and Cliff Morrison were a contributing factor to Ball State's mediocre play this weekend.
"We're obviously a much better team with those guys," Richards said. "I believe we would've had better results if Cliff and Andres had been healthy and been able to play, but that's the reality of it all. You play who you have and do the best you can with what you have."
In the morning sessions on the first day of the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, sophomore Austin Smith started with a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Wisconsin's Jack Larsen.
In the final Friday session, Ball State won five of its nine singles matches. Senior Derek Carpenter, freshman Ray Leonard, Smith, freshman Patrick Elliott and junior Alex Doherty all won their respective matches in straight sets.
Ball State went 7-5 combined in singles and doubles matches in the afternoon sessions Saturday.
On the final day, Ball State went 1-6 in singles play against Wisconsin, with the only win coming from Leonard in three sets.
Ball State went 2-1 against Northwestern in doubles. The pair of Dalton Albertin and Leonard along with the other team of Zane Smith and Carpenter won their matches 8-6 and 8-5, respectively. The only loss came from the team of Alexandre Brym and Austin Smith.
"We played some good tennis, and not so good tennis at times," Richards said. "But overall, I thought we performed pretty well. It was a very productive weekend, and I thought our level of play as a team was pretty good."
Richards said Monroy will have be out at least five months with a hip injury. He is schedule to have surgery on the injury.
Morrison is out indefinitely with a leg injury.
Ball State will return to action on Sept. 30 when it hosts the Ball State Fall Invitational. First serve is to be announced.
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