2012 Year in Review, No. 9: Mens Tennis MAC title
With the turn of the new year upon us, BroncoBlitz.com will take some time to look back on the year that was in Western Michigan athletics. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be counting down the top ten moments in Bronco sports in 2012. Today, we look at the men's tennis team's run to the NCAA Tournament.
It's no secret around Kalamazoo that Western Michigan men's tennis coach Dave Morin has a good program going. In his 16 seasons at the helm, the veteran coach has led the Broncos to either the Mid-American Conference regular season or tournament title 16 times.
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In 2012, the Broncos made their ninth appearance in an NCAA tournament under Morin, who was also named the MAC coach of the year for the ninth time. In addition, it marked the sixth time in seven seasons that the Broncos appeared in the Big Dance.
Making the run to the tournament perhaps even more special was that despite the Broncos finishing third in the conference in the regular season, they were able to avenge losses to Northern Illinois and Buffalo en route to a tournament championship.
The Broncos also continued their run of success against the Big Ten, defeating Iowa in Kalamazoo by a score of 5-2.
WMU finished off the MAC tourney with authority, routing top-seeded Buffalo 4-0 for the right to face Illinois in Champaign in the NCAAs. There, the Illini downed WMU 4-0 to end the Broncos' six game win streak.
Coach Morin was also inducted into the WMU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012, which he discusses in the video below.
Western Michigan starts defending their MAC title in just two days, taking on Detroit at home on Friday at West Hills Athletic Club before traveling to Northwestern of the Big Ten on Sunday.