Ball State University men's tennis team, 4-6 on the season, plays University of Michigan, 8-3 for the season, Friday at Michigan. Michigan lost their last match to Texas A&M last weekend, 3-4. Last year, when the Cardinals played the Wolverines, they were defeated by Michigan.
"We played [Michigan] last year and lost 5-2," Aaron Phillips said. "They are a tough team, and we can be competitive with them."
This season Ball State and Michigan have had only one opponent in common, Northwestern University. Michigan beat Northwestern 5-2, and the Cardinals lost 2-5. The Cardinals know that if they want to beat Michigan they are going to have to bring their "A" game.
"[If we want to win] we need to win close ones," Phillips said.
Throughout the past week the Cardinals have been working hard in practice. The team has been working on both its singles and doubles. Phillips said the Cardinals have been working harder on doubles, though.
"We had a good week at practice," Phillips said. "We worked on both singles and doubles, but [we] concentrated more on doubles because we still needed to work on that."
Joe Vallee said that he also worked on offense.
"[In practice this week I] worked on my serve and staying aggressive," Vallee said.
If the Cardinals beat Michigan, it will be their first win against a Big Ten conference team this season. So far this year, Ball State has played Purdue University, Michigan State University, University of Illinois and Northwestern.
The Cardinals will be in Las Vegas for Spring Break, playing University of Nevada, Las Vegas on March 14.
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