The men’s tennis team (14-8, 2-2 MAC) was able to get an important conference win last weekend against the Toledo Rockets (18-9, 0-3 MAC), 6-1. Those six wins all came from singles, and one of the players that helped in that victory was freshman Simon Formont.

Formont is a business major from Orléans, France. He attended Lycée Camille Claudel school.

Throughout the season Formont has been playing the No. 4 position through the No. 6 position in singles. Most of his wins are from the No. 4 spot, where he has a 7-0 record; he has an overall record of 17-11 on the season. He’s also a part of the No. 2 doubles team with partner Axel Lagerlof, and the two have a record of 11-7 on the season. Even though Formont’s position might change from week to week he continues to get better.

“I try to fight and practice hard every day,” Formont said. “I try to work better on my forehand and serve because that’s my strength and sometimes my backhand as well.”

Last weekend the Huskies defeated the Rockets 6-1 and finally played as a complete unit like head coach Patrick Fisher has been talking about all year. All six wins came from singles with five of them being close in three sets. Formont won his match at the No. 6 spot, defeating Bryant Dudzik 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

“We won Sunday [against Toledo], but we still need to continue to work our way to the MAC Championships,” Formont said.

Looking at where Formont stands in the lineup, someone may say that he’s not a big contribution to the team, but Fisher knows how important Formont is to NIU.

“He has been able to give a spark for us at the bottom of the lineup for us,” Fisher said. “Looking at it, he has had a very good freshman year and progressed throughout the year.”

With the bottom half finally stepping up to the plate and winning their matches at a crucial time in the season, Fisher believes his team can continue to do it against Buffalo and possibly longer.

“Those guys [have] been wanting to come through and against Toledo it did,” Fisher said. “But they just have to do it again this week.”