Dustin Dobrin has had his problems this year—an 0-7 record in singles being the major one.

NIU men’s head tennis coach Charles Merzbacher needs a major turnaround from Dobrin to reach his goal of sweeping this weekend’s opponents: Kalamazoo (0-1), Miami (Ohio) (7-1), and Michigan State (5-1) at East Lansing, Mich.

“I’d be the first to admit that I haven’t been doing the job, but I have been playing tough opponents,” said Dobrin, last year’s Mid-Continent Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year. “I feel I have been playing well, but I haven’t been patient enough.”

Dobrin had to play the No. 3 singles position on three occasions instead of his regular No. 4 spot, while No. 2 singles player Greg Done was out of action.

O’Neil missed last weekend’s matches due to an ankle injury. “O’Neil is back and he’s a very dangerous player when he’s playing well,” Merzbacher said. “And we would like to get Dustin back on the winning track. We really need him to pull off some wins in order for us to reach our goals.”

Dobrin said he feels confident after a good week of practice, which forced him to have more patience, and playing his regular No. 4 position should also help. “The guys I have played so far have been just keeping the ball in,” Dobrin explained. “They’ve been forcing me to go for shots earlier than I wanted to. It’s just a matter of having more patience on my part and setting up each point.”

During Thursday morning’s individual workout with Merzbacher, Merzbacher forced Dobrin to hit the ball back 10 times before Dobrin could go for winners. Dobrin beat the coach 11-9 in the drill. “It helped my confidence,” Dobrin said. “It was a good warm up for this weekend.”

The 3-4 Huskies play Kalamazoo Saturday at 10 a.m. “Kalamazoo has won more Division III titles than I can count on my fingers and toes,” Merzbacher said. “I expect them to be tough.”

NIU comes right back in the afternoon to battle perennial Mid-American Champion Miami (Ohio) at 4 p.m. Then the Huskies will look to end a six-game losing streak to Big Ten opponents when they take on Michigan State Sunday at 4 p.m.