The men’s tennis team couldn’t do what was needed to win over the weekend to improve its MAC record, losing to rival Ball State 7-0 (13-7, 2-0 MAC) and defeating non-conference team Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (5-12).

The Huskies (13-7, 1-2) had No. 1 player Axel Lagerlof back in the starting lineup, but that wasn’t enough for the Huskies to win against the Cardinals. Lagerlof had a chance to win against Ray Leonard in singles, winning the first set 6-3; however, he lost the last two sets 6-1 and 6-4.

Along with losing out in singles, NIU also wasn’t able to pick up the first point of the match in doubles.

Head coach Patrick Fisher didn’t like the outcome or how his team preformed. After seeing his top three players lose he knew the match was over.

“We didn’t do anything positive to give us a chance to win against Ball State,” Fisher said. “We had a 0 percent chance of winning against them. When we don’t win at the top, we don’t have [a] shot to win.”

After being dominated by the Cardinals, the Huskies were able to bounce back against IPFW. They won 4-3.

There was no difference in how NIU played overall, Fisher said. He felt that even though the Huskies were able to win the match, they played just as bad as they did against the Cardinals.

“We got our butts kicked by Ball State and we barely won against IPFW,” Fisher said. “This wasn’t one of our best weekends. We can’t have individuals play well and others not. We all have to play our best.”

Looking at the remainder of the schedule the Huskies have two more conference games to play, but one against Toledo on Sunday will be the make-or-break game for this team.

“It’s time to put up or shut up,” Fisher said. “It’s time to win our go home. We [have] our backs against the wall. This is going to be the most important week for our team.”