It's been almost a year since the Ball State men's tennis team defeated Western Michigan and Toledo in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Most importantly, the victories clinched the Cardinals their seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Both teams will look to get revenge this weekend when Toledo faces Ball State today at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center and Western Michigan on Saturday at Kalamazoo, Mich.
"I expect both teams [Toledo and Ball State] to have a chip on their shoulder," head coach Bill Richards said. "They've lost to Buffalo earlier this year, and we've lost to Northern Illinois. The fact we beat Toledo last year in the MAC Tournament finals; I'm sure they'll come out wanting some revenge. I think it's going to be a great battle."
After its tough match against Northern Illinois on Saturday, Ball State has been focusing on finding the right balance between recuperating and work this week in preparation for its matches with Toledo and Western Michigan. Freshman Patrick Elliott and senior Andres Monroy are two players who are trying to find that balance.
"Elliott's dislocated thumb is a sudden injury from a week ago," Richards said. "Can he make it through a whole match right now? I hope so. We hope he'll get to play on Thursday. Andres is continuing to make slow and steady progress, but realistically, he probably wouldn't be in there unless some guys that have been playing all year couldn't go."
Junior Austin Sansone could be a player who fills in if Elliott can't go this weekend. Sansone made the All-MAC Tournament team last season after picking up singles and doubles wins against Toledo and Western Michigan.
"If [Elliott] can't go, I'm ready to go if I need to," Sansone said. "I have been playing more sets in practice. There's really no problem with my conditioning, so I'm ready to go anytime."
Ball State's weekend matchup with Western Michigan will be emotional for Richards. He was a three-year letter-winner in tennis and a MAC champion in both singles and doubles.
"I was born in Kalamazoo and my wife and I went to Western Michigan," Richards said. "There's always a lot of emotion when you go home. Except for us at Ball State, I still have a special place in my heart for Western Michigan. I still have family there, and our first conference championship was won there in 1984. It's definitely a place I always look forward to going back to."
Sansone said winning the doubles point will be crucial for Ball State in its matchups this weekend.
"Both of those teams are pretty talented, and we're pretty evenly matched in singles," he said. "As long as we can get the doubles point, we'd only have to win three singles matches. From a momentum standpoint, it helps us out to win the doubles point and start out ahead."
Ball State's matchup with Toledo starts at 3 p.m. and its matchup with Western Michigan starts at 1 p.m.
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