The Weber State University men’s tennis team had a busy offseason, losing three players from the last season, something which Head Coach Brad Ferreira had to focus a lot of time on.

“I lost three guys. I needed to recruit four guys, which I spent the whole summer trying to do and didn’t have anybody,” Ferreira said. “This doesn’t usually happen, but I’ve spent November and December recruiting the four guys that I have and getting them eligible.”

The men’s tennis team has more international players than any other sport, as only one player on the team is American.

Four Wildcats are from Ferreira’s home country of South Africa, including senior William Zulch.

“It’s definitely exciting (going into my senior season), but obviously also pretty sad to get done, but just going to go try and enjoy it, try and really be a good leader to the guys,” Zulch said.

Zulch will serve as the only senior this season, as the other senior on the team, Connor Kruger, will miss the season due to injury.

“When four new guys show up, sometimes it’s a bit of a question mark if they’re going to end up being as good as you hope or not,” Ferreira said. “I think they’re actually been better than I expected, which is good. (Kruger) is going to be out for the season … and then the top recruit we had isn’t coming, so that hurts a little bit”.

Despite the setbacks, Ferreira believes in his players.

“I think we’ve got a very good group of guys,” Ferreira said, “we just have to hope they can play well”.

The Wildcats begin their season on Jan. 17 at Brigham Young University followed by a trip to Las Vegas for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Tournament from Jan. 23-25.