NIU men’s tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher was telling the truth when he said this past weekend’s Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association/Rolex Indoor Regional Championship featured only the best collegiate players.

That’s why the Huskie boss can accept the frustrations of a quick exit. By the end of the first four days of play, all four singles entries plus NIU’s lone doubles duo were eliminated from the invitational which features only the top players from schools throughout the Midwest.

“I’m not upset that we were eliminated even though we expected and hoped to stay around longer,” Merzbacher said. “A lot had to do with the way the draw worked out and it wasn’t in our favor. We played some big hitters and we played them tough—we’re not happy with the losses, but I’m happy with the effort.”

After receving first-round byes, NIU’s doubles combo of Greg O’Neil and Erik Andersch lost their singles matches to Big Ten opponents. Other singles qualifier Mats Persson came up on the short side of a 6-3, 6-3 match.

NIU’s lone victory belonged to Dustin Dobrin, who started with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over the University of Illinois’ David Nasser. Unfortunately, Dobrin then became a 6-4, 6-2 victim at the hands of a Wolverine from the University of Michigan.