The Ball State men’s tennis team fell to No. 27 Notre Dame 5-2 Monday afternoon, snapping its season-best five-match win streak. The loss dropped the Cardinals to 12-7 while the Fighting Irish rose to 12-7 with the victory.
Ball State jumped out to an early lead by winning two out of three doubles matches. Senior Austin Sansone and sophomore Patrick Elliott earned the first point for the Cardinals, winning 8-6 at the No. 3 position. The Irish won the second match before the senior duo of Dalton Albertin and Cliff Morrison earned the point winning 8-6 at the No. 1 spot.
The Cardinals were once again without sophomore Ray Leonard who sat out the non-conference match due to his back flaring up in practice.
“We had to scramble and make some changes with our doubles lineup as a result of Ray [Leonard] being out,” coach Bill Richards said.
Despite Leonard being out, the Cardinals took a much-needed lead into singles play. That’s when the Irish took control of the match.
The Irish swept five of the six singles matches including the top four positions. Irish junior Greg Andrews, ranked No. 109 in this week’s ITA rankings, defeated Morrison 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 1 spot. Andrews used a strong serve and persistent returns to wear down Morrison and force him into mistakes.
Albertin put up a fight at the No. 2 position but came up short, losing 6-2, 6-4 to freshman Quentin Monaghan. Albertin led 4-2 in the second set after breaking Monaghan but a key point penalty was issued to Albertin to start the seventh game.
Ball State freshman Imanol Arconada smashed his racket against the ground after losing his match, earning a point penalty. By rule, the penalty is issued to the highest-ranking player that is still on the court, Albertin in this instance. Monaghan took full advantage of the point and broke Albertin to get back on serve. He then won the next three games to earn the match clinching victory for Notre Dame.
The Cardinals lone singles point came at the No. 5 position where Elliott earned his second victory of the day by defeating Irish senior Michael Moore 7-6 (7-5), 7-5. Elliot has now won eight consecutive singles matches, with his last loss on Feb. 23 against Michigan State.
Coach Richards was given a scare when senior Alexandre Brym went down hard late in his match. Brym stayed down for just under two minutes before returning and finishing his match off. He looked to be nursing his knee once returning but after the match said the injury was not serious.
Ball State had several chances to break through but were unable to take advantage as Notre Dame shut the door quickly.
“I felt we played pretty well for the most part, the points were a pretty high level of tennis,” Richards said. “They were just enough better where we couldn’t win enough games to give ourselves a shot of pulling off the upset.”
Marg
Patrick Elliott last five matches
Vs. Notre Dame W - 7-6 (7-5), 7-7
Vs. Toledo W - 6-4, 6-3
Vs. Illinois St. W - 6-2, 6-3
Vs. Butler W – 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
Vs. Xavier W – 6-4, 6-1
