KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's tennis team was picked to repeat as Mid-American Conference (MAC) Regular Season Champions and MAC Tournament Champions according to the Preseason Coaches' Poll, which is voted on by the leagues six head coaches.
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The Broncos took home 36 total votes, followed by Buffalo (27), Binghamton (21), Ball State (20), Northern Illinois (15) and Toledo (7). WMU also finished with five of the six MAC Tournament Championship votes.
Last season Western Michigan won the program's 11th MAC Men's Tennis Tournament Championship after posting a 4-0 win over Ball State. Western Michigan head coach Dave Morin was named MAC Coach of the Year for the 10th time of his career while returners Matt Hamilton and Maik Steiner were each named to the All-MAC team and Daniel Loebel earned All-MAC Tournament honors. WMU finished 20-6 overall, 6-1 in the MAC and 10-0 at home last season.
The Broncos competed in five tournaments during the fall, with freshman Jannik Opitz leading the team in singles wins with a 12-1 record. As a team, the Broncos went 75-33 in singles and 30-19 in doubles. Eric Olivarez went 10-4, Nick Schnobel went 9-2 and Kennosuke Nouchi went 8-2. In doubles, both Billy Heckman and Schobel went 10-3 while Nouchi went 7-3.
The Broncos open the season on Sunday, Jan. 15 with a pair of home matches against UIC (1 p.m.) and Detroit (6:30 p.m.) Admission to all home tennis matches is free of charge.
