On a summer-like afternoon in February, the Ball State women’s tennis team got the chance to play outside at the Cardinal Creek Tennis courts as they beat IUPUI 7-0.

The bleacher stands held what was clearly one of the bigger crowds of recent weeks, and they were treated to some great tennis right from the start. The action on court four saw sophomore Audrey Berger and freshman Rebecca Herrington communicating well with each other as they defeated the Jaguars’ pairing of Samantha Mayer and Sara Sherif 6-2. Isabelle Dohanics and Toni Ormond had a similar doubles experience this afternoon, beating their opponents 6-1 on court six.

However, it wasn’t as easygoing on court five. Junior Julia Sbircea and senior Rosa Calderon started well like both other doubles matches, going up 3-0. But as the match went on, IUPUI’s Valeria Laurenchuk and Mariella Pessina fought back before the Cardinals ultimately won 7-6 (5).

A similar trend could be seen in the singles matches today, with the majority of games going smoothly but some having hiccups here and there. This weekend, senior Toni Ormond had some hiccups in her match. She lost the first set in a tiebreak against Mayer but got back on track by taking the second set. Ormond eventually won 6-7 (2) 6-2 1-0 (4). Her match was the last to finish.

Herrington had the perfect scorecard as she extinguished Marina Schneiger 6-0, 6-0 on court 5. Peyton Gollhofer half-matched Herrington’s score, beating Laurenchuk 6-3, 6-0 on court one.

Sbircea played her first singles match since the opening weekend of 2017 and it was happy returns for her on court six as she won 6-2, 6-3 against the Jaguars’ Molly Nguyen. Audrey Berger didn’t play in the singles for Sunday's win over Evansville but she was out on court four today to gain victory over IUPUI's Pessina 6-1, 6-4. Senior Carmen Blanco seemed to have little trouble in her 6-1, 6-2 win over Sara Sherif.

The result means it’s the ninth time in as many years that the Cardinals have beaten the Jaguars, and it also leaves Ball State with a 7-2 record for 2017 as they head into next Saturday’s home match against Youngstown State.

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