Riverside—It could have been a tough situation for Mattias Johansson when he was hired in November as UC Riverside's men's tennis coach.

Not only was he a late hire, the struggling Highlanders team had six seniors who were probably looking forward to graduation more than another losing season on the courts.

Fast forward six months and the Highlanders have already set a school record for wins as they prepare for their final match of the regular season Monday and then the Big West tournament April 27-30.

It's far from a complete turnaround, Johansson noted, but a 12-13 overall record is a pretty good start for a program that won just nine matches combined over the past three years. UCR averaged fewer than five wins a season since joining Division I in 2002. The previous high for victories was 10, set in 2007.

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