Women’s tennis (0-1, 0-0 MAC) started its season going head-to-head with 60th-ranked Minnesota and taking a 7-0 loss Sunday.

The Huskies showed glimpses of good play in the game despite losing big, much of what is to be expected in the first game of the season. NIU junior Adey Osabuohien defeated Minnesota sophomore Caroline Ryba in the first set of the No. 1 singles match, but went on to lose the tiebreaker after the second set.

The Huskies were able to keep close in many of the matches despite trailing, something that tends to happen to teams with lots of experience. NIU has just one freshman on this year’s team, Meghan Montgomerie, who fell to Minnesota sophomore Mehvish Safdar in a singles match.

NIU senior Cristina Alvarez went up against redshirt senior Julia Courter in the No. 2 match, falling 6-3 in each of the first two sets. The No. 3 match included NIU sophomore Michelle Erasmus and Minnesota senior Paula Rincon-Otero. The match only went two sets as Rincon-Otero took both, 6-2 and 6-4.

Three doubles matches took place on the day, headlined by a match between Rincon-Otero and Minnesota freshman Annemarie Emme against Osabuohien and Alvarez. Minnesota took the match 6-1.

The Huskies will prepare to play their third game of the season later this week against Lewis. Matches are set to start at 1:45 p.m. Friday in Aurora.