After a 7-0 road loss to No. 17 Illinois last week, Ball State coach Bill Richards was asked by his players what the team can do to win their next two matches.
"We just need to take care of business," he said.
In Saturdays' matchups with Valparaiso and IUPUI, Ball State did exactly that by winning each match by a 6-1 score.
With the wins, the Cardinals move their record to 2-2 on the season.
In spite of the lopsided victories, Richards said the team didn't play as well as was needed.
"In the Valpo match, I thought we were a little flat, especially in doubles," Richards said. "We didn't come out with the fire we needed. I think part of that was looking ahead to IUPUI. But we did what we had to do. We played well enough to get the job done."
Against Valparaiso, Ball State won five of its six singles matches, four of which came in straight sets. The other win came in No. 1 singles from the racket of junior Dalton Albertin. He defeated Valparaiso's Chris Baum by a score of 3-6, 6-2 and 6-3.
In doubles, Ball State won all three of its matches. In No. 1 doubles, Albertin and freshman Ray Leonard defeated Valpo's Chris Baum and Adam Whitmer 8-6. Seniors Zane Smith and Derek Carpenter won their No. 2 doubles match 8-4 over Eric Honert and Kevin DeHerrera, while freshman Patrick Elliott and sophomore Austin Smith won their No. 3 doubles match 8-5 over Michael Woodson and Siddarth Mehta.
After a short break, Ball State returned to the courts to play IUPUI.
Ball State began the match with an 8-2 doubles win from Albertin and Leonard. They defeated IUPUI's Thomas Gans and Patrick O' Neil.
"He's a good returner, and I'm a pretty good server, so we kind of feed off of each other," Leonard said. "We both have solid volleys. I think the key was hitting a lot of balls and staying aggressive, making the other team play."
Despite the fast start, IUPUI showed Ball State it had some energy left in singles play. In No. 1 singles, Albertin lost a close match to Nick Volz 6-4, 7-6 (7). In No. 6 singles, Elliott went to a third set tiebreaker with Gans. In the end, however, Elliott prevailed with a 7-6 (6), 5-7, 10-7 win.
In spite of Ball State getting its first two wins of the season, Richards said he never pays attention to records.
"I never have, and never will," he said. "Every match is a different match, whether you are 0-4 or 4-0. What is behind you is behind you. It's gone, it's over, it's in the history book. Just look forward to the next match every time.
"These are matches we needed to win, and we did. If we hadn't, there's nothing you can do about it. Just work hard and keep trying to get better."
Ball State will return to action Saturday when it travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to play Xavier.
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