The Miami University women’s tennis team will travel to Muncie, Ind. this Saturday to square off against Ball State University (BSU) for a chance to clinch the regular season Mid-American Conference (MAC) title outright. A win would also extend the team’s regular season win-streak against conference opponents to 33 games.

The RedHawks (12-9, 7-0 MAC) have tremendous playmakers on the singles front. Senior Stephanie Danesis has won each of her last seven matches, while the superb play of freshman Christine Guerrazzi and sophomore Christiana Raymond have powered them to 18-10 and 16-8 records, respectively.

“I am very excited to play against Ball State,” Guerrazzi said. “We have been working hard and I believe that all of us are ready to go out there and use all of the tools we have been polishing this past week.”

The Red and White are also well equipped in doubles play with the team of senior Rieke Honiball and sophomore Nimisha Mohan getting the 8-4 victory last week against Northern Illinois University.

“It has been the adversity we have faced in competition that has tested our toughness and helped us become sharper in the heat of battle,” Head Coach Anca Dumitrescu said. “We are looking forard to our last regular season conference match at Ball State, and I expect Ball State to challenge us and provide adversity on the court.”

The Cardinals (5-14, 0-7 MAC) hope to rebound from a tough 3-4 loss to Northern Illinois University last weekend. Freshman Courtney Wild is seeking to build on her impressive season, coming off of a win that pushed her record in singles play to 19-11. Senior Kylee Johnson is in dire straights as she is currently on a nine-game losing streak in singles. BSU could be a significant hurdle for Miami to overcome in the regular season finale, since the ’Hawks are 4-6 on the road this season.

“Each match is an opportunity to get better and learn to make better tactical choices as well as develop our competitive spirit,” Dumitrescu said. “I am looking forward to see how we will deal with adversity on Saturday and also seeing if we have the discipline and fight that we need to bring to win the upcoming conference tournament.”

Ball State will host the match I p.m. Saturday at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center. The MAC Tournament will be hosted by Northern Illinois and will take place April 27 in DeKalb, Ill.

“[The Ball State match] will be a another great opportunity to show what we can do, and we will hopefully use it as momentum into the MAC Tournament,” Guerazzi said.