Only a speck of dust was left in what would have been a clean sweep by the NIU men’s tennis team this weekend at the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament in Green Bay, Wisc.

In route to their first-ever Mid-Continent title, the Huskies swept Eastern Illinois 5-0, and Wisconsin-Green Bay 5-0. But coach Charles Merzbacher’s squad could not wipe out Western Illinois in the finals, winning 5-1. The final meet was forced indoors due to inclement weather.

Paul Gill, at No. 5 singles, suffered the only loss of the weekend as he could not avenge an earlier loss to WI’s Craig Graves, falling in three sets. Gill finished the year with an 11-6 record.

None of the Huskies, however, were disappointed about not sweeping. “It showed how much we wanted to win this tournament by losing only one match,” Dustin Dobrin, the No. 4 singles player, said.

Against Western Illinois, Mats Persson took care of Joel Tennison 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. Erik Andersch, who led the Huskies with a 28-7 record, was named the Mid-Continent Player of the Year after beating Matt Runyan 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2.

Steve Senter defeated Dean Russell 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Dobrin knocked off John Bremmer 7-5, 6-0. David Settelmyer was engaged in a tight match with Brian Gahan, but because his teammates had already won the title, the match was suspended.

“Western is a good team, we all had to play hard,” said Persson. “We had a lot of pressure on us, being the favorites, so we played a little tight. But we concentrated harder and played with a lot of intensity.”

Four Huskies were picked for All-Conference honors. Persson (26-10), Senter (22-9), Dobrin (22-17) and Andersch were the players selected.

Merzbacher, in his second campaign at NIU, received Coach of the Year honors. Merzbacher’s team has a 38-20 record in the last two years.

NIU’s dual-meet record to date stands at 19-8, with a 9-0 mark in Mid-Continent dual-meet action.