The men’s tennis team lost its first Mid-American Conference matchup Friday in a 6-1 loss to Western Michigan University.

“It was a rough day,” said Head Coach Patrick Fisher. “Western was a better team than us. They were more aggressive.”

The Huskies (12-6, 2-1 MAC) fell behind in doubles when seniors Louis-Philippe Hamel and Tom Hjertonsson suffered their fifth loss as a pair at the No. 3 to Western Michigan juniors Nick Schnobel and Eric Olivarez 6-2.

At the No. 1, sophomore Bor Schweiger Muzar and senior Georg Lundkvist earned their tenth win as a pair in a 6-4 win against sophomores Jannik Opitz and Kennosuke Nouchi.

Redshirt senior Eric Marbach and redshirt freshman Kristopher Ortega fell short of a comeback to earn the doubles point but lost 6-4 at the No. 2 to junior Lenhard Haupt and senior Maik Steiner.

After failing to grab the doubles point, the Huskies continued to struggle in singles matches, failing to reach a third set in each of the loses.

“I think it’s midsets,” Fisher said, “We’ve got to commit to being aggressive.”

At the No. 1 in singles, Ortega was shutout by Steiner in the first set 6-0 and was only able to win two games before dropping the second set 6-2.

Muzar captured his tenth win of the season after beating Olivarez 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 5 to finally put the Huskies on the board.

Trying to tie the match up at the No. 3, Hamel lost the first set 6-3 and came up short in the second set, losing 6-4 to Nouchi.

In the Huskies’ last effort to come back and win the match, Lundkvist was overpowered at the No. 4 by Haupt, dropping the first set 6-2 and eventually defeated 6-7 in the second set.

Marbach kept his match close at the No. 2 losing 6-7 in the first set but was shut down by Opitz 3-6 in the second set.

Last to finish was Hjertonsson at the No. 6, as he suffered his fifth loss of the year in a 6-4, 7-6 loss to junior Matej Svjetlicic.

The loss breaks a first place tie NIU held with Western Michigan. The Broncos now hold first place to themselves and the Huskies slide down to second in the MAC.

“Western’s a good team,” Fisher said. “They’re predicted to win it,”

The Huskies will look to beat Ball State twice in two weeks when they face off 1 p.m. March 31 at the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford.