The debut of the NIU men’s tennis team in the university’s Recreation Building happens Saturday when the Huskies welcome Southern Illinois University for an indoor meet.

SIU boasts a 2-6 ledger, altough the Salukis demonstrated their power earlier this year when they had SIU meeting for the Flight A and D championships at the Illinois State University Redbird Invitational. One of those winners was Mickey Maule, who ranks 42nd nationally and is fresh from playing in the ITCA Rolex Indoor Collegiate Nationals.

“He’s an outstanding tennis player, but we respect their whole line-up. I think this is one of their best teams in years,” NIU head coach Charles Merzbacher said. “This would be a great win if we could pull it off. They won the majority of meetings between us at ISU.

“I think it should be a great match. Hopefully, people in the community will want to come watch because this is one of the best programs we’ll play in town.”

NIU stands 4-4 by way of a 9-0 shutout of the University of Illinois-Chicago, an 8-1 loss to the midwest’s top-rated University of Wisconsin Badgers. Among the players Merzbacher singles out for praise following last weekend’s slate was Rich Reaves. The NIU sophomore “has come into his own” and has been a steady scorer in the No. 6 singles slot.