Men’s tennis No. 1 seed in Big Sky

The Sac State men’s tennis team earned a bid to the NCAA Division I Championships for the first time in school history after placing first in the Big Sky Championships two weeks ago in Northern Arizona.

In his fifth season as the Hornets’ head coach, Chris Evers led his squad to a 15-4 record and its second Big Sky title in a row since joining the conference three years ago.

“It feels really good right now because it was a team effort,” Evers said. “Everyone put in a lot of hard work on the court this year and now we get an opportunity to play more.”

Men’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball all qualified for postseason play this year, the most in Sac State history.

Evers, who received Big Sky Coach of the Year honors after last season said the program’s Big Sky finishes was more of a surprise last season with a young squad but this year he expected nothing less.

“I expected us to win the Big Sky this year because that is our minimum goal,” Evers said. “Last season I just wanted us to win and we ended up winning the conference. Now we have expectations.”

Last year the Hornets finished the season with a 20-6 record to win the Big Sky but did not reach the NCAA Championships.

Evers said his squad will draw one of the top two teams in the country (most likely UCLA) when they begin play in the championships next week but their goal will be simple.

“We have never been this far before so I want our team to enjoy it and put on a good showing,” he said. “I don’t want them to be nervous because there is no pressure to win. I just want the guys to have some fun because this is gravy time.”

Evers wants to continue the program success in the Big Sky next year but this time take it a step further.

“Next year I hope that we can get a better ranking in the NCAAs and maybe even win a first round match, he said. “The championships are made up 64 teams out of 300 and other teams play in tougher conferences than we do so we need to take advantage of that and win the Big Sky every year.”

Evers said the winning season’s and the NCAA bid will make future recruiting a lot easier for his program. Next season the team will have three returners out of seven.

“This is going to help us a lot because right now we are in the public eye and the program is beginning to come around,” Evers said. “I wanted to improve this program when I first came in a little bit every year. Now we have athletes that are good on the court, have good personalities and do good in the classroom.”