Improving to 10-2 on the season, NIU men’s tennis defeated both Southern University (0-9) and the University of Nebraska Omaha (10-6) on Saturday.
Defeating Southern 7-0 with two doubles and four singles matches being played, only five Huskies saw action against the limited Southern team.
NIU split the doubles matches played, with sophomores Iker Gaztambide Arrastia and Christopher Norlin beating SU freshmen Gabriel Inyang and Jaiden Dominguez 6-0. Freshman Saul Berdullas and senior Armin Koschtojan were beaten 6-4 by junior Barnabas Kalab and freshman Lwazi Ngwenya.
In singles, senior Mikael Vollbach bested Ngwenya in 6-0, 6-2 sets. Gaztambide Arrastia defeated Kalaba in 6-2, 6-1 sets. Koschtojan defeated Inyang without conceding a game, in two 6-0 sets. Norlin won his match against Dominguez also in 6-0, 6-0 sets.
Winning the match against Omaha 4-1, the Huskies faced a tougher opponent than earlier in the day.
Senior Cheng En Tsai and Vollbach dominated a 6-2 win against junior Mikhail Korkunov and sophomore Bryan Kuntz. Gaztambide Arrastia and Norlin defeated freshman Mikel Garmendia and sophomore Ethan Gaubert in a 6-4 set. Berdullas and Koschtojan’s match against sophomore Ryoma Mishiro and junior Quintan Van Wijk was ruled unfinished after the doubles point was clinched by NIU.
In singles, the Huskies won three matches, including a win from Vollback to seal the win.
Tsai controlled his 6-4, 6-2 win against Korkunov from the beginning of the match. Gaztambide Arrastia bested Gaubert in 6-4, 6-2 sets.
In the only loss for the Huskies, Berdullas was defeated in three sets by Van Wijk, 6-4, 2-6, 4-6.
Vollbach won a long match against Mishiro in a second set tiebreaker that clinched the Huskies victory, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
NIU men’s tennis head coach René Vidal explained that moment for the team.
“It’s never easy to close out a match individually, but also knowing that it’s the clinching match for the team,” Vidal said. “Mikael’s mental toughness is second to none, so he’s the guy that you’d want out there when it matters the most. We’re really happy with his development.”
Norlin was up 2-1 against Garmendia and Koschtojan was losing to Kuntz 5-2 when the matches were ruled incomplete.
Vidal elaborated on the mindset of the team before moving into MAC play.
“We have very big goals,” Vidal said. “Our team mantra is ‘dominance is daily’, so we’ll get back to the practice courts this week and keep working to improve. We’ve got big goals going into conference but we’ll just take things one match at a time.”
The Huskies will face their first conference opponent on the road next weekend at noon Friday at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center where they take on Ball State University.
