MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State University men's tennis team lost a heartbreaker to Northern Illinois Saturday afternoon at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center. The Cardinals dropped a 4-3 decision to the Huskies in their last Mid-American Conference regular season match. BSU evens its overall record to 11-11 and falls to 3-2 in the MAC.
Ball State took the early 1-0 lead over NIU after winning the doubles point. At No. 1 senior Jose Perdomo and teammate freshman Zane Smith captured an 8-4 victory over Pawel Poziomski and Jimmy Chu. The No. 3 doubles tandem sealed the win for Ball State after Cardinal duo senior Jorge Rodriguez and freshman Derek Carpenter defeated Javier Bernabe and Ross VanderPloeg, 8-3.
With Ball State up 1-0 over Northern Illinois, freshman Cliff Morrison and Rodriguez quickly gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead over the Huskies after winning at No. 3 and No. 5 respectively. But the Huskies rallied back winning the next three singles matches to tie it 3-3. Pavia and Jurica Grubisic went to three sets at No. 2 singles but Grubisic would win to take the match from Ball State.
The Ball State University men's tennis team will travel to Buffalo next weekend for the MAC Tournament.
Northern Illinois 4, Ball State 3
Doubles
No. 1 Jose Perdomo/Zane Smith (BSU) def. Pawel Poziomski/Jimmy Chu (NIU) 8-4
No. 2 Eduardo Pavia/Andres Monroy (BSU) lost to Jurica Grubisic/Shaun Stewart (NIU) 8-7 (5)
No. 3 Jorge Rodriguez/Derek Carpenter (BSU) def. Javier Bernabe/Ross VanderPloeg (NIU) 8-3
Singles
No. 1 Perdomo (BSU) lost to Poziomski (NIU) 4-6, 7-6, 6-1
No. 2 Pavia (BSU) lost to Grubisic (NIU) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6)
No. 3 Cliff Morrison (BSU) def. Stewart (NIU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 4 Monroy (BSU) lost to Bernabe (NIU) 2-6, 6-4, 7-5
No. 5 Rodriguez (BSU) def. Chu (NIU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 6 Shaun Bussert (BSU) lost to VanderPloeg 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
