The Ball State women's tennis team followed up a strong opening to its season with a 6-1 victory over Dayton Thursday evening.
The Cardinals secured the doubles point after freshman Courtney Wild and sophomore Kristel Sanders defeated the Flyers' Sammie Hornbarger and Maureen Stevens, 8-2.
"I think we had really good chemistry this match, especially in doubles. Kristal and I, I think we killed it tonight, so I was pumped about that," Wild said.
In No. 2 doubles, the team of senior Sarah Hebble and freshman Ashlyn Rang beat Dayton, 8-5.
After doubles play, Ball State continued to get victories in singles. Wild won her No. 1 matchup against Dayton's Claire McNulty, 6-4, 6-3. She also had one ace in the match.
Despite the win, Wild still sees room for improvement.
"Singles, I still think I can get better at. Trying to get into this whole new thing with college. It's brand new for me," Wild said.
Hebble started her singles match off strong, winning the first set 6-0, then fell into some trouble in the second set, but eventually pulled out the win, 7-5.
"That happens sometimes in tennis, sometimes you get the lead and you start overthinking, and she just got a little bit tentative. She was able to pull out that second set which was important," Ball State coach Christine Bader said about her senior.
The lone loss of the evening was Rang, who fell to Hornbarger 6-2, 6-3.
When asked about possible fatigue affecting tomorrow's match against Wright State, Bader cited her team's preparation and training.
"We do a lot of conditioning, and work on whether it's third set matches or playing the next day or even doubleheaders, so we do a lot of things so that hopefully our girls are in shape tomorrow," Bader said.
Tired or not, the team will play again Friday afternoon at the Muncie YMCA at 1 p.m.
For more women's tennis coverage, follow @Matt_D_McKinney on Twitter.
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