NIU men’s tennis saw ups and downs throughout the Tom Fallon Invitational over the weekend in South Bend, Ind.

The Huskies concluded day one with an overall record of 4-3. The two teams that they beat were Notre Dame and Michigan State.

Coach Patrick Fisher said that his team got lucky in some of the matches, but overall it was a good start to the invitational.

“Our guys played pretty well,” Fisher said. “We got off to a really good start. There were matches we won [that we] probably shouldn’t have won and matches we lost that we should’ve won. That’s just how it goes, you know. Overall it was a good start to the finish.”

Against Michigan State, Simon Formont extended his unbeaten streak to eight matches when he defeated Tyler Richmond, 6-1, 6-2. Fellow Huskie Maksym Lagutin defeated Paul Heeder, 6-4, 6-2.

On day two, the Huskies fell flat in singles, going 0-6. They lost five matches to Notre Dame and one to Alabama.

In day two doubles, the Huskies went a combined 5-1 against Notre Dame, Alabama and Michigan State. Their lone loss came against the Spartans.

On day three, NIU went 3-3 in singles and 0-1 in doubles. Dor Amir defeated Ryan Bandy of Notre Dame, 6-2, 6-3 and Axel Lagerlof defeated Alex Lawson of Notre Dame in three sets, 5-7, 6-1, 1-0.

In doubles, the Huskies lost their only match of the day as Greg Andrews/ Spencer Talmadge of Notre Dame defeated Lagerlof/Formont, 8-2.

“This weekend I thought I played pretty good,” Lagerlof said. “Basically, it was one of the best tournaments I have played so far this year. We played some good teams this weekend. I was pretty confident with my play this weekend and I also improved my serve a lot. I think my play this weekend will definitely carry over to the next tournament.”

Amir was one of nine players named to the All-Tournament team. Amir finished 2-1 in singles and was 1-1 in doubles. The MVP of the tournament was Blas Moros of Notre Dame.

Beating ranked teams such as Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama and Michigan State has demonstrated how far the Huskies have come.

“It shows growth of the program,” Fisher said. “It shows the growth from over the years. We have gotten better and better and even better. We strive to be able to compete at a high level. Getting those results [is] starting to show that we are not just competing but being in a position to be able to hopefully beat them.”