By Amara Grautski

In 2006, Northeastern’s club tennis team had fallen apart. It was hard enough getting players to commit to a match – forget about winning.

But 2008 is a new year, and the latest breed of Huskies has ambition in its blood.

Eight men and women from the club tennis team will head to nationals in Cary, N.C., later this month. The club gained a wild card slot despite losing to Brown University in the regional competition. A national title would mean even more to the coachless Huskies, who have taken pride in being a student-run team.

“When we go to tournaments, most of the clubs have coaches, but we didn’t have a coach,” said Fiona Donegan, a freshman on the team.

Donegan said although the students run the practices themselves, everyone takes them seriously.

“We get a lot done. We don’t just fool around in practice,” she said. Donegan paused before adding, “Well, I mean, sometimes we do.”

Sophomore club member Tim McIvor said being student-run motivates the team.

“It kind of makes it feel like, you know, we’re doing this all on our own and there’s a lot of pride to it and