The men’s tennis team is set to play its last non-conference game when it goes take on Southern Illinois University Carbondale (8-2).

SIU is currently on a six-game winning streak with its most recent win coming against Chicago State (1-15). SIU’s has seemingly dominated in its past six wins with five of those wins being by a score of 6-1 and one 7-0.

The Salukis are coming into this matchup looking to continue their hot streak at home. This will be the fourth time head coach Patrick Fisher has played against SIU, so he’s aware of how good the team is.

“They’re having a good year,” Fisher said. “This will be the fourth time [I’m] playing them. We beat them twice and lost to them once.”

Throughout this season, Fisher has told his players a key thing they need to work on is their mental toughness and their doubles play.

When the Huskies go off to face SIU they have a good chance to start out strong in both singles and doubles. They have a better overall record in both singles and doubles. In singles, five Huskies have double-digit wins from notable players Dor Amir (17-6) and Frederic Cadieux (16-3). SIU has only two in Martijn Admiraal (11-2) and Badr Cherradi (12-7). Both have been playing well with them coming in with six-game winning streaks in single play. In doubles, NIU is six games above .500 with half the wins coming from Amir/Cadieux and Simon Formont/Axel Lagerlof with 21 total wins, while SIU is right at that mark with a record of 22-20.

“We haven’t fired on all cylinders but it can be a good or bad thing,” Fisher said. “I continue to stress mental toughness and doubles play, overall the same thing we [have] been saying over several weeks, and get all six guys firing on all cylinders.”

With this being the last match before heading into conference play, the team will try to increase its record and boost its confidence when it comes to face Western Michigan (10-7) on March 29.

“[SIU] gives us an opportunity for our guys to step up and have another win to be 12-5 on the season,” Fisher said. “[We’re] hoping our best days are ahead of us. We’re ready to break through.”