Men’s tennis split its Saturday matchups against Western Illinois University, winning 7-0, and University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, losing 4-1.

The Huskies’ first matchup was against WIU and they won by a clean sweep, improving their overall record to 7-3. The Huskies were able to start off strong in doubles with wins coming from all three pairings.

No. 1 Dor Amir/Frederic Cadieux defeated Brad Holt/Mitch Granger, 8-4. No. 2 Axel Lagerlof/Simon Formont defeated Ben Yue/Chris Bunch, 8-6, and No. 3 Jovan Zeljkovic/Maksym Lagutin defeated Max Cederkall/Brandon Meeker, 8-4. The play from doubles carried over to singles play, were NIU won every match to give it a 7-0 victory.

The second matchup of the day was against a more formidable opponent in UW-Green Bay (7-1), which the Huskies lost to, 4-1. NIU was able to start off strong by getting the first point in doubles with the wins coming from all three pairings.

“After we got [our first point in] doubles I felt that our team chances of winning went from 50 percent to 80 percent, but we ended up losing,” said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. “We put ourselves in a position to win.”

Heading into singles play, the Huskies had a difficult time with Green Bay defeating four of the Huskies in the singles matchups. Cadieux, who was on a nine-game winning streak, couldn’t keep up the streak after losing to Craig Cox in three sets, 2-6, 6-4 and 6-4. No. 1 Amir and No. 6 Zeljkovic each were on top in single play but weren’t able to finish; the match was already decided due to losses in the other four singles matches.

“We had lots of opportunities to close the sets, but against good teams they won’t let that happen often,” Fisher said. “We need to take big steps to improve.”

After having a week to recover and work on a game plan for Green Bay and WIU, the Huskies went 1-1 for the weekend.

“I knew it was going to be tough, but we need to win against teams like Green Bay If we want to have a good season,” Fisher said.