After losing its first two matches of the season against Big Ten opponents Northwestern and Illinois, the Ball State men's tennis team has racked up 11 straight wins.
In its matchup on Saturday against Michigan State, Ball State will find out how far it's trulycome from its opening matches.
"To see that level of competition early on helps us know what [Michigan State's] level is and what level we're going to have to play at if we're going to have a chance to win," coach Bill Richards said.
Richards will also be coaching against Michigan State coach Gene Orlando, who is one of his former players at Ball State from the mid-1980s.
During his time at Ball State, Orlando had a 91-40 record in singles and a 98-24 record in doubles. He won conference titles his junior and senior season and was ranked as high as 21st nationally in doubles.
"I had a great time playing for [Coach] Richards," Orlando said. "I was able to be a part of the first Mid-American Conference championship and fortunate enough to win four championships under his tutelage. He was a great leader, motivator and inspired us all to reach a higher level than we thought was possible at Ball State."
In spite of coaching against Richards the past few years, Orlando said it's always a competitive match.
"Every time we play them, it's a heck of a match," he said. "Richards gets them ready to play every time and we know we're going to have our hands full when we play them this Saturday."
Orlando also said it's not an easy match for him to coach.
"I'll be very honest, it's a difficult match for me," he said. "Obviously, I'm a big fan and supporter of Richards no matter who he's playing. It's great beating other teams and other coaches, but when it's your old coach, it's bitter sweet."
In its past five meetings with Michigan State, Ball State has a 0-5 record. The closest the Cardinals have come to defeating the Spartans was during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. In each season, they lost by a score of 5-2.
Freshman Ray Leonard and sophomore Austin Smith may be the players that can help turn the series around for Ball State. Leonard is on an 11-match win streak while Smith is on a nine-match win streak.
"One thing I've been focusing on [these past few matches] is keeping my focus during a match," Leonard said. "Maintaining focus on what I'm doing; making sure that my strategy is good and that I'm competing at a high level; and not playing loose points. I'm confident in my ability to come out and compete well against anybody, so I'm going to stick to what I've been doing."
Richards said the key to a Ball State victory this weekend is having faith in its abilities.
"I think it starts with belief," he said. "The last few years we've played against them, I didn't feel like we played with a greater sense of purpose or a chip on our shoulder that you really need. Hopefully this team will be different and we'll go out there with the mindset that we can beat these guys."
First serve in the Michigan State match will be tomorrow at noon in East Lansing, Mich.
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