Women’s tennis to take on Ball State
Sophomore Stephanie McDonald sets up to return a volley on March 29 in the meet against Bowling Green State University.
April 17, 2013
The women’s tennis team has only two more matches, and it will play the Ball State Cardinals (13-10, 3-3 MAC) and Miami Ohio Redhawks (10-12, 6-1 MAC) this weekend.
Head coach Ryun Ferrell believes this week is important even though the team might not make it to the MAC Championships. He wants his team to play hard as if the season is about to start.
“This will set the tone for the upcoming year, and we have a lot of pride and had a good year and want to finish strong,” Ferrell said.
The Cardinals are 3-3 in the MAC with a recent victory coming from the Western Michigan Broncos (11-12, 4-3 MAC) 4-3. The Cardinals are solid when it comes to their singles and doubles. The only player who has been consistent for the Huskies in conference play is Nelle Youel. Youel hasn’t been perfect with a 3-3 record for singles, but she has come close with those three losses being in three sets. Doubles for the Huskies have been subpar, with the teams losing majority of their doubles matches since the start of conference. Knowing that, Ferrell has focused on doubles this week.
“Doubles only,” Ferrell said. “Singles we look fine, doubles we need to change that around. We’re going to just keep working on it.”
The Redhawks will most likely be the Huskies’ hardest match since the start of conference. They are on top of the standings with a 6-1 conference record and have more success in singles and doubles with a 31-11 singles record and 12-9 doubles records.
“Miami Ohio, they are the class of the league with the best record in the league,” Ferrell said. “So it’s going to be a battle, but [we’ve] been in every match [we’ve] played and I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
The Huskies have won more dual matches this season–14–than since the 1997 women’s tennis team, and also had two players win MAC player of the week: Youel in January and Haley Dekkinga in February. With the season coming to a close, Ferrell knows this weekend will help him get ready for next season.
“We’re not going to roll over and call it quits,” Ferrell said. “We’re ready to keep picking fights.”
