KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's tennis team is set to begin Mid-American Conference competition March 15-16 in Muncie, Ind., facing Ball State University and Northern Illinois University. 

WMU faces Ball State at 1 p.m. on Friday, followed by a match versus NIU on Saturday at 1 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan closed out its non-conference slate on Sunday, March 10 at West Hills Athletic Club, falling to Drake University 6-1 to finish the non-conference slate with an 8-7 record. 

Through 15 non-conference matches in 2019, freshman Peter Kuszynski leads the Broncos with nine singles victories, followed by an 8-3 record from junior co-captain Jannik Opitz. WMU doubles pairs of Opitz/Kennosuke Nouchi and Kuszynski/Jack Randall lead the team with 7-1 and 6-1 doubles records, respectively. 

REIGNING MAC CHAMPIONS
Last season, the Broncos finished 7-0 in the MAC while winning both the conference regular season title and the MAC Tournament Championship, the program's 24th regular season title and 12th MAC Tournament title. Western Michigan was one of 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament with 20+ wins and rode an 11-match winning streak into the 64-team championship. WMU had its season end in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling 4-1 against No. 25-ranked Notre Dame.

ABOUT BALL STATE
The Cardinals went 8-7 during non-conference play and is riding a six-match winning streak. Last season, BSU went 14-11 overall and 3-4 in the MAC, falling to the No. 1 seeded Broncos in the first round of the conference tournament. 

ABOUT NIU
The Huskies also own an 8-7 overall record and most recently closed out their non-conference slate with a 4-3 loss to Youngstown State. A year ago, Northern Illinois turned in a 15-8 overall record and 5-2 MAC record, falling to Buffalo in the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament. 

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