The Ball State men’s tennis team didn’t seem fazed by a long week between matches as they took care of business Wednesday and defeated two in-state opponents.
In the first match of a double-header, Ball State defeated IPFW 5-2 and then knocked off Indiana Tech in the second match 7-0. With the two victories, the Cardinals improved to 6-4 on the season and have won three matches in a row.
Against IPFW, the Cardinals struggled to shake off the rust and got off to a rocky start by losing the doubles point.
“I thought we were kind of sluggish, sometimes when you have a week off you lose your edge a little bit and I thought that happened to us,” coach Bill Richards said. “Naturally we were disappointed to lose a doubles point.”
The Cardinals recovered quickly, winning five of the six singles matches. The top four players all won in straight sets highlighted by senior Alex Byrm’s 6-0, 6-1 victory at the No. 3 position.
Sophomore Ray Leonard, who had missed the previous two matches with an injury, successfully returned to the lineup by defeating Daniel Kang 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot. Senior Cliff Morrison also returned to the lineup and went 1-1 in his two doubles matches.
Ball State rode the momentum it built against IPFW straight into their second match of the day. The team didn’t drop a set, winning all 15 in route to a 7-0 sweep of Indiana Tech. Freshman Imanol Arconada and Brym defeated their opponents 8-2 in the duos first go at No.1 doubles this season. Brym continued his great day by winning 6-1, 6-0 in singles action.
With Morrison and Leonard done for the day, sophomore Patrick Elliot was forced to play singles action despite batting the flu. He won 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 4 position. Junior Austin Smith played a perfect singles match, defeating his opponent 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 5 spot.
Richards warned his team to not overlook either opponent despite their records.
“Certainly not the same quality of opponents that we’ve played previously this year but everybody can play,” he said.
The Cardinals won’t have much time to celebrate the victories as they host another double-header on Saturday.
“I think we needed this to help us prepare for Saturday and I thought the guys responded well,” Richards said. “They pushed us in certain situations and again I think it’s what we needed today.”
