For the fourth consecutive season, Ball State women's tennis (17-2, 5-0 MAC) came out victorious against Eastern Michigan (6-13, 1-4 MAC), winning 6-1 at Northwest YMCA Friday.
The Cardinals have beaten the Eagles every season since head coach Max Norris took charge for the 2013-14 season.
The doubles matches have been tight for Ball State recently, but Friday's proceedings got off to a much less stressful start than previous matches. Senior Toni Ormond and sophomore Isabelle Dohanics were the first to finish out on court 3, as they only dropped one game to juniors Alejandra Barcelo Almoyna and Renu Sharma on their way to a 6-1 win.
Minutes later, on court 1, sophomore Audrey Berger and junior Julia Sbircea wrapped up the doubles point for Ball State as they triumphed over another junior Eagles pairing, Ani Gogvadze and Maria Paula Ribero, 6-4. Play on court 2 was consequently suspended but sophomore Peyton Gollhofer and senior Carmen Blanco were up 5-4 for the Cardinals over a third all-junior team of Andrea Martinovska and Anna Veleva.
The Cardinals kept up their level in singles play, as the Eagles could only notch up one win in the six matches when Ribero got the better of Dohanics, 6-2, 2-6, 10-8.
The rest of the matches were settled in straight sets, all in Ball State’s favor. On court 5, Berger maintained her perfect singles record this season with a quick 6-2, 6-2 victory over Barcelo. However, it was freshman Rebecca Herrington who would claim the quickest win of the day as she beat Veleva 6-1, 6-1 on court 4.
Toni Ormond played in the second flight and beat Martinovska 6-2, 6-3. Carmen Blanco remained in top spot and produced another win, claiming a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory over Gogvadze.
After losing her singles match against Buffalo on Sunday, senior Rosalinda Calderon was given the chance to bounce back on court 6 and she grasped it with both hands to beat Sharma 6-2, 7-5.
Funnily enough, both of today’s teams face the same opponent in their next match. Ball State travels to the University of Toledo for a match at 1 p.m. Sunday, Eastern Michigan will then make the journey to Toledo next Saturday.