NIU men’s tennis had mixed results over the weekend, beating Ball State at home before falling on the road to Marquette.

NIU (18-6, 2-0 MAC) opened up slow against Ball State (15-8, 1-1 MAC), dropping the doubles point, but came back and won all six singles matches to win 6-1.

After years of struggling against Ball State, the Huskies put up solid efforts throughout the singles lineup, including two gritty three-set victories at first and second singles from Dor Amir and Roman Turtygin.

The tide turned in Milwaukee, however, as NIU could not overcome another slow start. After losing the doubles point once again, NIU lost to Marquette (9-12, 0-2 Big East) 4-3.

“The biggest thing that held us back was doubles,” said NIU coach Patrick Fisher. “We lost the doubles point and it’s hard to come back and try to win four singles matches against a team like Marquette. We were able to do it against Ball State, but I don’t think we can continue to come back and win four singles matches.”

Losing the doubles point has been a problematic trend for the Huskies in an otherwise remarkable regular season. Fisher knows that his team must find a way for his players to solve the issue before the MAC Tournament.

“If we want to win a championship, we’ve got to have a better showing in doubles,” Fisher said. “The guys know that. They know we’ve got to do better and embrace it more by playing smarter.”

The only Huskie to win in both doubles and singles against Marquette was Maksym Bartiuk, who continues to recover from a shoulder injury that has hampered his performance this year. This was the first weekend Bartiuk played back-to-back days at fourth singles, but he managed to keep the Huskies afloat with his effort.

Despite entering Marquette’s match coming off inspiring performances at home, Amir and Turtygin both suffered tough losses in the top two spots.