In an indoor Mid-American Conference match, the Ball State men's tennis (10-9, 2-2 MAC) dropped a MAC match to Toledo (10-11, 1-3 MAC) Friday.  Head coach Bill Richards said the team played below average.

"Not good enough, that's for sure," said Richards.

In the doubles matches, sophomores Tom Carney and Conner Andersen won their second-flight match 6-3 sets. In the first-flight match, seniors Lucas Andersen and Andrew Stutz won 6-2, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.  Richards said they got off to a good start after dominating the doubles point.

"We just could not keep up the momentum and lost four straight sets in singles. You just can not let that happen, when you win the doubles point," said Richards. "You gotta to try and keep the momentum going your way and we did not do that."

In singles matches, Stutz made short work of his opponent at the second-flight match, winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.  Stutz said Toledo had came out strong in singles play.

"And individually I knew I was against a tough opponent so I just tried to be mentally focused from the first point and it paid off," said Stutz.

In fourth-flight action, sophomore Nemanja Guzina won both of his sets 6-4, 6-1. Guzina is now 7-2 at fourth flight matches.  

In the final match, Conner Andersen lost his sixth-flight match in two sets 7-6, 6-2.  Richards said it would have been a different match, if Andersen had won it.

"I certainly do not fault Conner, he won a big match for us against Northern Illinois last Saturday," said Richards. "We always talk about giving ourselves a chance to win. Even though he lost, he gave himself a chance to win today, where we had other players that didn’t get themselves the chance to win." 

The Cardinals' next match is at 2 p.m. Wednesday against IUPUI at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center.

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