The good and the bad will surface in the NIU men’s tennis team’s only outdoor home meet of the season today at 3 p.m.

Today’s meet will “almost positively” be held at the Stadium Courts, which is located north of Huskie Stadium. The meet will be held at the Stadium Courts instead of the normal Gullikson Court sight because it’s not ready for competition.

The 11-11 Huskies will take on Division III Wheaton College and first-year head coach Charles Merzbacher expects his young crew to show its mid-season form.

“I think we’re playing pretty well,” Merzbacher said. “We’re not going to look real good because it’s our first outdoor match this season, but we have been playing for a while and I’m just probably looking for scrappy outdoor play.”

The bad part of the meet today is that NIU will be battling the outdoor hazards of playing in the wind tunnel of DeKalb plus the expected chilliness. “We have been practicing outdoors for the last couple of weeks and I’m feeling pretty good about us,” said Merzbacher.

Unfortunately for the NIU team, a couple of the Huskies aren’t feeling too well. Erik Andersch and Rich Reaves are suffering from a sore throat. But Merzbacher expects to play his regular line-up.

Expect Andersch to be at his best. The entire Andersch family will be on hand to watch him compete. Andersch’s parents and brother are visiting NIU from Sweden to spend some time with Andersch and his sister Hild Andersch, who plays on the NIU women’s team.

Andersch is coming off a doubles win with his partner Greg O’Neil in last Thursday’s Volvo Tournament in an exhibition against a Northwestern duo. Not only did Merzbacher see a win by his players, but he also got to see a great upset in the professional ranks when Jim Grabb beat the No. 1 player in the world, Ivan Lendl. Merzbacher lost to Grabb in the Minnikahva Invitational in 1987 7-5, 6-4.