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Wildcat tennis back in the playoffs

The WSU men's tennis team poses with senior Dylan Hansel (center) on Senior Day. The Wildcats defeated Northern Colorado to secure the No. 1 seed in the Big Sky Conference playoffs.  (Source: Weber State Athletics)
The WSU men’s tennis team poses with senior Dylan Hansel (center) on Senior Day. The Wildcats defeated Northern Colorado 5-2 to secure the No. 1 seed in the Big Sky Conference playoffs.
(Source: Weber State Athletics)

The Weber State University men’s tennis team won its second straight Big Sky Conference regular season championship title on Sunday after defeating University of Northern Colorado 5-2.

The WSU women’s team also earned a spot in the Big Sky Conference tournament with a 4-3 victory over Montana State University on Sunday.

One season after going undefeated in conference play, the men’s team finished conference play with a 10-1 record to secure the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

In senior Dylan Hansel’s final home game, Hansel served up the match-winning ace in the No. 2 doubles match to help the Wildcats win the doubles point.

“We are going to miss Dylan,” WSU men’s head coach Brad Ferreira said in a statement. “He did all the things behind the scene to make this team successful over the last couple of years.”

The women’s team secured the No. 5 seed in the playoffs with its win over Montana State. It’s the team’s first playoff appearance since 2007 when they lost 4-0 to No. 3 seed Montana State in the quarterfinals.

After losing all three doubles matches to start the day, Weber State battled back to sweep the No. 1 and 2 singles matches and freshman Romy Dodd-Stephens took the No. 4 match in three sets to push the Wildcats into a tie with the Bobcats. In the final singles match of the day, freshman Devi Hasan snapped her three-match losing streak to defeat sophomore Liana Bates 6-2, 6-4 to give the Wildcats the win.

Before missing the playoffs in 2008, the women’s team had made a playoff appearance for 10 straight seasons including a Big Sky title victory in 2000.

The WSU women’s team will look for their first playoff win since 2005 when they play No. 4 Northern Arizona University on Friday in Gold River, California. The Wildcats are 2-2 against the Lumberjacks in the playoffs dating back to 1993 but lost their last match-up during the 2006 semifinals.

The men’s team has a first round bye in the playoffs and will play against the lowest remaining seed on Saturday in the semifinals. The Wildcats defeated Sacramento State in the semifinals last season but went on to lose to University of Montana 4-0 in the championship game.

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