To the delight of the NIU men’s tennis team, there were no surprises this weekend. The Huskies hosted the first Mid-Continent Conference Individual Tournament. And they won it.

The competitors included Akron, Eastern Illinois, University of Illinois-Chicago, Northern Iowa, Valparaiso, Western Illinois and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. NIU is a relatively new face in the crowd, having joined the conference last year.

Nevertheless, second year coach Charles Merzbacher’s team left no doubt as to who is the leader of the pack. After Saturday’s competition, NIU names were scattered about as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the eight singles and four doubles divisions.

Among the action was a match featuring last season’s No.1 man, Mats Persson, who breezed to the finals of the 2nd singles bracket (earlier in the week he had lost the top spot to Greg O’Neil). Persson outshot UIC’s Mike Koenigsberger 6-0, 6-1 in a match that typified the whole team’s performance.

As the top man, O’Neil knew he’d be facing the best players in the field. On Friday, he got into the semi-finals to meet John Buetow of Valparaiso. Buetow took it 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. He went on to win the division while O’Neil placed third.