The men’s tennis team ended its regular season in a 6-1 loss Friday to University at Buffalo in DeKalb.

The Huskies had a three-game winning streak heading into Friday’s match and failed to end the season on a hot streak.

“Buffalo was tougher, it’s as simple as that,” said Head Coach Patrick Fisher.

NIU hasn’t won the doubles point since March 16 when it defeated Binghamton University and swept the three doubles matches.

Buffalo opened up the match with victory at the No. 1. Senior Vidit Vaghela and Petr Vodak defeated senior Eric Marbach and redshirt freshman Kristopher Ortega 6-1.

The Huskies had a closer fight at the No. 2 but senior Georg Lundkvist and sophomore Bor Schweiger Muzar ultimately fell 7-5 to sophomores Villhelm Fridell and Hao Sheng Koay claiming the doubles point for the Bulls.

Senior Louis-Philippe Hamel and freshman Victor Spolidorio’s match at the No. 3 against freshman Matthew Johnson and junior Ethan Nittolo went unfinished.

The Huskies struggles followed them into the singles matches.

“If we are going to beat Buffalo [in the MAC Tournament], we have to play better in doubles,” Fisher said.

In the first match to finish, Lundkvist was defeated by Vodak 6-3, 6-4at the No. 4 to put the Bulls up 2-0. Muzar dropped the first set against Nickolas Frisk at the No. 5. He tied it with a 6-4 win in the second set, but couldn’t complete the comeback in the third set and lost 6-3.

In the Huskies’ last chance for a comeback win, senior Tom Hjertonnson opened the first set with a 6-4 loss. Hjertonnson fought back for a 6-4 win in the second set but lost the third set 6-1 clinching the match win for Buffalo.

Hamel won his first set 7-5 but dropped the next two losing 6-3, 7-5 at the No. 3 to Nittolo. The Huskies only win of the day came at the No. 2 when Marbach beat Fridell, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Ortega lost his last match of the regular season at the No. 1 by a score of 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 to Koay. Ortega finished his first regular season at NIU with 13 wins tied for the team lead with Hamel.

The Huskies will travel to Buffalo Friday to compete in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. NIU will look for redemption against Buffalo as it has bounced the Huskies from the tournament in the last three trips.

“We are probably going to play these guys again,” Fisher said. “We have a week to look at ourselves and change some things.”

The semi-finals are set for Friday and the Championship match will be be held Saturday.