NIU men’s tennis coach Tim Madden had mixed emotions about his Huskies’ participation in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association – All-American Pre-Qualification Tournament.

Of course, that result is understandable considering the fact NIU had mixed results in the Saturday-Sunday tournament which is used to determine the final few openings for this weekend’s ITA-All-American Championship tourney. Both Huskie entrants—Marty Engel and Sunu Thomas—won opening round contests before losing second-round matches.

“We came here looking for some good national competition. We certainly got that,” Madden said. “The bad news is we didn’t qualify. I’m disappointed in that respect, but pleased to see that both players picked up their level of play. I was hoping they’d do just that.”

Engel swept Justin Cobb of Southwest Texas State University by a 6-3, 6-2 count before losing to Arizona State University’s Peter Jeschke in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

“Marty had a good opening round win and lost a three-set match to an experienced opponent,” Madden said.

Thomas was a 6-0, 7-5 opening round winner over the University of North Texas’ Pierre David Turmel, but lost a 6-2, 7-5 decision to Clemson University’s Mike Williams.

An entire squad of Huskies will be in action for NIU’s next meet—the Midwest Regional Classic hosted by Indiana University on Oct. 21-23 in Bloomington, IN.