DeKALB — The Huskies (12-5, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) defeated Ball State (11-5, 1-1 MAC) 5-2 in their second conference matchup of the season.

“I think we won pretty convincingly,” said Head Coach Patrick Fisher.

Despite the 5-2 victory, Fisher wasn’t pleased with the way his team played.

“Ball State outcompeted us,” Fisher said. “They had more energy than us.”

Sophomore Bor Schweiger Muzar and senior Georg Lundkvist were back at the No. 1 against Ball State. They fell to junior Nemanja Guzina and redshirt junior Collin Rugney 6-4.

At the No. 2, senior Eric Marbach and redshirt freshman Kristopher Ortega evened doubles with a 6-3 win over junior Marko Guzina and junior Conner Anderson.

Senior Louis-Philippe Hamel and senior Tom Hjertonsson failed to capture the doubles point at the No. 3 against junior Tom Carney and freshman Chris Adams, losing 6-3.

After dropping the doubles point, the Huskies dominated in singles.

Once again, Ortega won 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 1, taking down Nemanja Guzina. At the No. 2, Marbach defeated Marko Guzina 7-5, 6-3.

Lundkvist and Hamel both won in two sets with the same scores of 6-4, 6-2. Lundkvist defeated freshman Thibault De Negri at the No. 3, while Hamel beat Anderson at the No. 4.

Muzar’s match at the No. 5 went three sets after he dropped the first one 4-6. He came back to beat Adams 7-6, 10-4 in the last two sets.

Hjertonsson fell to freshman Bryce Bonin 7-5, 4-6, 10-6 at the No. 6 in the Huskies’ only singles loss of the day.

“Overall, I think we left at least two points out there,” Fisher said. “I think we could have won 7-0.”

The Huskies won the match 5-2 and are now 2-0 against MAC opponents. NIU sits at the top of the conference standings tied with Western Michigan University.

The Huskies will hit the road as they face off against Western Michigan 1 p.m. Friday at the Sorensen Courts West Hills Athletic Club in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in a showdown for the No. 1 spot in the MAC.

“I think we have a real good shot,” Fisher said. “These big ones are fun to be in. We know what it takes to win there because we’ve done it before, and we’ve done it with these seniors. I’m excited it’s fun to play for something.”