DeKALB – NIU men’s tennis took two out of the three doubles matches, but dropped its matchup with Western Michigan University (WMU) by a final score of 4-3. 

The match with WMU Saturday was the 14th time this season that the Huskies took the first doubles point to start the match. The Huskies fall to 11-6 on the season and are 3-2 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play. 

WESTERN MICHIGAN PREVAILS IN SINGLES

The Huskies started the match slow, as senior Oliver Valentinsson and junior Cheng En Tsai dropped both of their singles matches to WMU junior Benjamin George and sophomore Anton Arzhankin. Valentinsson lost 7-5, 6-2 and En Tsai lost 6-4, 6-2.

In the third position, NIU junior Mikael Vollbach rallied for the Huskies in a close 7-6 second set win to put a point on the board for the Huskies.

NIU freshman Iker Gaztambide Arrastia took WMU senior Arjun Honnappa three sets in singles win. After a first set win, Arrastia suffered a 6-3second set loss. This led to a third set where Arrastia overcame Honnappa 7-5 in the final set to earn the point. 

The Huskies dropped the two remaining singles, in which the last single won WMU the match. NIU started off with junior Armin Koschtojan dropping his single to WMU junior Jackson Boone.

With the deciding factor of the match, WMU graduate student Fynn Lohse edged NIU freshman Christopher Norlin.

HUSKIES TAKE DOUBLES

Despite the loss, the Huskies started off doubles with a win. Vollbach and En Tsai teamed up and took down WMU graduate student Peter Kuszynski and junior Ferdinand Schlueter by a score of 6-4.

The next doubles match win came from Koschtojan and Valentinsson, who doubled up to defeat Honnappa and Arzhankin. With the 6-2 win, the Huskies won their second double of the day.

The Huskies were not able to complete the sweep as Norlin and Arrastia teamed up and took on Lohse and George. The double ended as unfinished, sealing the 4-3 victory for WMU.

UP NEXT

The Huskies will continue MAC play on the road at 1 p.m. Friday against Binghamton University. This match will take place in Binghamton, New York, at the Lane-Starke Tennis Center. 

The live stats will be available via iOnCourt.