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By Chris Boline

Spring has sprung and so has the Wolf Pack’s collective wings in the Mountain West.

After a disappointing end to the basketball season and an even more depressing football season, the odds did not seem to be in Nevada’s favor to improve in its sophomore year in the MWC. However, this has all changed with strong performances from some of the most overlooked sports on campus. From tennis to track, the Pack has found a way to make spring sports the best Nevada has to offer.

Here are the reasons why the student body needs to give credit where credit is due in the final weeks of school.

MEN’S TENNIS

Playing in the affluent suburb of Caughlin Ranch for their home games, it is easy to overlook the men’s tennis squad since it does not host any traditional home matches. However, the team has done just fine this season without playing on campus. A 2013 All-Mountain West conference selection, senior captain Victor Ouvrard has paced the Wolf Pack to an overall record of 15-4 with his singles record of 21-6. The doubles team of Ouvrard and Robert Allan has also led the way for Nevada and, before last Sunday’s match against New Mexico, was ranked as the 45th best doubles team in the country.

BASEBALL

Coming off a sweep of the second-best team in the Mountain West (San Diego State), Wolf Pack baseball is running smoothly under first-year head coach Jay Johnson. Among the stars for Nevada has been the power-hitting combination of Kewby Meyer and Austin Byler (42 RBI’s, 51 runs and eight home runs between the two of them). Also the pitching rotation of Michael Fain, Jason Deitrich, Barry Timko and Tyler Wells has been serviceable in helping the team to a 19-14 mark.

Fain (4-2, 2.38 ERA) and Timko (4-2, 3.71 ERA) will be especially critical in the second half of the conference season. The final away series of the season at UNLV will have massive postseason ramifications.

SOFTBALL

Coming off a record-breaking day at Hixson Park (665 people turned out to watch the Wolf Pack honor two-time cancer survivor Jayme King), the Nevada softball team has quietly turned in a serviceable season at 21-19. Nevada’s conference record of 3-9 leaves something to be desired, but sophomores Meagan Sweet (.354 batting average and 28 RBI’s) and Amanda Weis (seven home runs) might play a big hand in changing that during the stretch run.

TRACK & FIELD

Unable to host home meets due to the stadium seating that extends over a portion of the track, Nevada’s squad has turned in respectable performances since the indoor season. The distance medley team received first-team honors for its gold medal performance at the Mountain West Indoor Championships in February. Recently, senior Kerri Simmons won the invitational section of women’s shot put at the Stanford Invitational with a mark of 50’5.50.” At the San Francisco Distance Carnival, sophomore EmKay Myers won the 5,000 meter run with a time of 16:43.50, which is the third-fastest time in Nevada history.

As finals start to approach, an underrated distraction to studying might be watching the underrated sports.

Chris Boline can be reached at cboline@sagebrush.unr.edu.