The Montana State University men's tennis team will enter the Big
Sky Conference Mountain Regional as the reigning league
champions, April 6-8 in the Bobcat Tennis Center.
MSU's title defense will begin when they meet Eastern Washington
University on Friday, April 6 at 2 p.m. The Mountain Regional
will determine seeding for the Big Sky Conference Championships,
April 20-22 in Sacramento, Calif.
The regional will be a round-robin format. Competing in the
regional will be MSU, Eastern Washington, Montana and Idaho
State.
"We're looking forward to the challenge of defending our title,"
said MSU men's coach Mike Phillips. "We've beaten Montana twice
this season, but we haven't had the opportunity to play Idaho
State or Eastern Washington. I think ISU should give us a tough
match.
"It will be important to get the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye
at the conference tournament," Phillips added. "I think we're
peaking at the right time and our conditioning will certainly be
a benefit in playing three matches this weekend."
The Bobcats will be led by junior Thijs Goossens and sophomore
Lukasz Mazur. Goossens was the Big Sky Conference Player of the
Week, after defeating the No. 1 players from Montana and Idaho.
Mazur has MSU's best record with a 12-4 ledger at No. 2 singles.
The Montana State women will play at the Mountain Regionals,
April 12-14 in Missoula. The Bobcats split a pair of matches last
weekend, defeating Idaho State 5-2, and losing to Montana, 6-1.
