With the end of the Mid-American Conference men’s tennis season, NIU capped off a 7-3 conference record and a runners-up finish at the 2026 MAC Men’s Tennis Championship earning notable postseason awards on Tuesday.
Seniors Iker Gaztambide Arrastia and Nikola Puntaric were named into the All-MAC First Team and All-Tournament Team with a combined 38-5 overall and 19-3 conference record in singles play.
Arrastia also became the third Huskie to win MAC Player of the Year, bringing NIU its 13th total season award. The award was previously won by Willy Galli in 2005 and Brian Livingston in 2008.
Puntaric showed off his reliability in his first season as a Huskie, holding a dominant 18-3 singles and 14-6 doubles record. The Slovenenian improved from his 2-13 singles and 0-1 doubles record during the 2024-25 season at the University of Tulsa.
Puntaric earned two MAC Singles Player of the Week and four total season shouts.
Arrastia mastered singles play with a 20-2 record and finished 17-7 in doubles, his personal best in both since a 21-13 singles record in 2022-23 and 15-3 doubles record in 2023-24.
The senior ended the season with a nine match winning streak and was ranked No. 68 in the ITA Division I Men’s Tennis singles rankings in his final season as a Huskie.
Highlights from the Spaniard included a comeback upset win against University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana senior Kenta Miyoshi in March and a total of four winning points for the Huskies.
Both players switched between the No. 1 and No. 2 positions throughout the 2025-26 season and posted a 12-5 record as a duo.
