The Ball State men’s tennis team defeated Western Michigan 4-3 on Senior Day inside a packed YMCA Tennis Center. In front of the largest crowd this season, the Cardinals were able to hang on to an early lead and defeat their rival to stay perfect in Mid-American conference play this season. The Cardinals improved to 3-0 in the MAC and 14-7 overall.
The Cardinals got off to a hot start by winning two out of three doubles matches despite playing without injured senior Cliff Morrison. Fellow senior Austin Sansone filled in for the injured Morrison. The duo of senior Dalton Albertin and Sansone earned the doubles point for the Cardinals with their 8-6 victory at the No. 3 spot.
Senior Alexandre Brym and freshman Imanol Arconada cruised to an 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles. Byrm had the shot of the match when he made a magnificent over-the-head shot during the seventh game.
“I just flew and when I made it I made that airplane move; I don’t know if coach liked it but oh well,” Byrm said. “That was spur of the moment and everybody was cheering, it was pretty crazy.”
The third doubles match was called off with the score tied at 7 once the Cardinals earned the doubles point.
The Broncos didn’t let the doubles loss get them down as they offered a stiff test in singles play. Junior Nadin Indre dominated play at the No. 1 spot, defeating sophomore Ray Leonard in straight sets. Indre used a massive serve to keep a usually relaxed Leonard on the run throughout the match.
The Cardinals bounced back though and took a convincing 3-1 lead after Brym and junior Austin Smith won in straight sets at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions. Brym was unfazed by his opponent and controlled the match from the beginning, never trailing throughout.
“That guy wasn’t really hurting me so it was my job to take the points, be aggressive and make him miss.” Brym said.
The final three matches all went to three sets with the Cardinals taking one to get the overall victory. Sophomore Patrick Elliot came up huge, winning the final two sets after dropping the first to earn the crucial point.
“He [Elliot] did a great job after losing the first set,” head coach Bill Richards said. “He was down a break in the third, and found a way to come through.”
The entire crowd was on their feet to root Elliot on during the final few points. The Cardinal fan base really came out and showed their pride for the most important home match of the season.
“It was a great match, exactly the type of match that I expected, happy to get out of here with a W,” Richards said. “They’re a good team, tough players, fortunately Elliot was able to turn his [match] around.”
The Cardinals now control their own destiny when it comes to the MAC regular season title.
“One step closer to the MAC [title], it’s just a great feeling. Now we just got to focus for Chicago State,” Brym said.
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