MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Western Michigan women's tennis team dropped its Mid-American Conference opener, 6-1, at Ball State on Sunday afternoon. 

The Broncos (9-1, 0-1 MAC) were in an early hole after dropping the doubles point. BSU picked up a quick win at No. 2 to put the pressure on but the pairing of graduate student Christine Gouws and freshman Marielou Baudouin responded with a 6-4 win over Ella Hazlebaker and Elena Malykh at No. 3. The point came down to the No. 1 match between Lola Glantz and Audrey Smitek and the Cardinals' Alana Bristow and Chloe Brown. Ball State's top-pairing got the best of WMU's in a tie-breaker, winning the set 7-6. 

Baudouin was the lone singles player to pick up a point for the Broncos, picking up a 6-2, 6-4 win over Isabel Tranjuatco No. 5. Gouws and freshman Friday Weijerman both lost in three sets. 

Western Michigan returns home to host Eastern Michigan on Friday at 12 p.m. and Northern Illinois on Sunday at 12 p.m.