MUNCIE, Ind. -- It's been a long time since the Western Michigan men's tennis team has been able to travel to Muncie, Ind., and beat Ball State, but on Saturday afternoon at the Muncie YMCA Tennis Center, the Broncos got the job done, 5-2, for their first win at Ball State since 1982.
"We're very excited to have beaten a very good Ball State team in Muncie," WMU head coach Dave Morin said. "It's been a long wait and a long time coming, but more importantly we remain undefeated in the MAC and control our own destiny towards winning the MAC regular season championship."
This is the second straight win for the No. 55 Broncos (15-7, 4-0 MAC) over the Cardinals (8-12, 2-1 MAC) after they also won the 2006 MAC Tournament championship match between the two conference rivals.
The Brown & Gold took an early lead by winning the doubles point from BSU. Tim Bradshaw and Kevin Hayward won 8-4 at No. 2 doubles and Brady Crosby and John Pelton won 8-6 at No. 3 doubles after Ball State took the No. 1 doubles match.
After losing in doubles, junior Alex Birchmeier quickly gave the Broncos a 2-0 lead in the match with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Jarrod Epkey at No. 4 singles and Crosby, the reigning MAC Player of the Week, put WMU on the verge of victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Aaron Phillips at No. 2 singles.
Crosby's two wins against BSU pushed his career total to 200 overall victories. Crosby is only the fourth player in school history to win 200 combined singles and doubles matches.
Ball State pulled within one, 3-2, with wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles and two matches still on the court in the third set.
Bradshaw gave WMU the match victory by defeating Joe Epkey 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 at No. 1 singles and Bryan Norville rounded out the scoring with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) win over BSU's Joe Vallee at No. 6 singles.
"Our veteran leaders really set the tone and came up big for us in this match," Morin said. "Tim (Bradshaw), Brady (Crosby) and Birch (Alex Birchmeier) set the tone for the rest of the team. I'm really proud of our guys going into a difficult place to play with a lot of tradition and come away with a win. We're excited to have won the match, but need to remain focused on a good Toledo team coming to Kalamazoo next weekend."
The Broncos can wrap up their first undefeated MAC season since 2004 when they close the regular season with a home match against Toledo on Friday, April 20 at 3:30 p.m.
Tennis Match Results
Western Michigan vs Ball State
Apr 14, 2007 at Muncie, Ind.
#55 Western Michigan 5, Ball State 2
Singles competition
1. Tim Bradshaw (WMU) def. Joe Epkey (BSU) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4
2. Brady Crosby (WMU) def. Aaron Phillips (BSU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Jose Perdomo (BSU) def. Kevin Hayward (WMU) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5)
4. Alex Birchmeier (WMU) def. Jarrod Epkey (BSU) 6-0, 6-1
5. Bret Berryman (BSU) def. John Pelton (WMU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
6. Bryan Norville (WMU) def. Joe Vallee (BSU) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles competition
1. Joe Epkey/Jose Perdomo (BSU) def. #34 Alex Birchmeier/Bryan Norville (WMU) 8-3
2. Tim Bradshaw/Kevin Hayward (WMU) def. Aaron Phillips/Jorge Rodriguez (BSU) 8-4
3. John Pelton/Brady Crosby (WMU) def. Jarrod Epkey/Joe Vallee (BSU) 8-6
Match Notes:
Western Michigan 15-7, 4-0 MAC; National ranking #55
Ball State 8-12, 2-1 MAC
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,2,3,5,1,6)
