NIU tennis had a busy weekend, as both the men’s and women’s team had multiple matches. The men’s tennis team went 1-2 while the women’s squad went 0-2.

In men’s action, the Huskies (9-11 overall, 1-1 MAC) split their first two conference matches of the season on Saturday in a doubleheader. NIU fell to Western Michigan (10-7, 2-0) 6-1 before defeating Chicago State (0-13, 0-1) 5-0.

The lone winner for NIU against WMU was freshman Axel Lagerlof, who outlasted his opponent at second doubles 6-2, 6-7, 11-9.

Lagerlof did not play against the winless Chicago State lineup, while Maksym Bartiuk led the way for the Huskies. Bartiuk won at first singles 6-2, 6-3.

NIU could not contain the streaking Drake Bulldogs (15-2, 1-0 MVC) on Sunday, losing 7-0. Drake stretched its current winning streak to nine matches, blanking the Huskies. Lagerlof played first singles against Drake while Bartiuk switched to second. At both first and second singles, NIU got off to a strong start, but in both matches the spots were unable to claim victories.

Head coach Patrick Fisher noted once again that despite the success at the top of the singles lineup, the downfall of the team so far has been the lack of production at the four through six singles positions.

“We’ve got to somehow get something going for us at the bottom half of the lineup,” Fisher said. “It’s been our Achilles’ heel since the first match of the year.”

In women’s action, NIU had similar struggles, losing 7-0 to conference foe Eastern Michigan on Friday, and duplicated that result Saturday against Toledo.

The Huskies (2-10, 0-2) had little resistance in doubles action to start the match at EMU (9-8, 2-1), and it carried over to the singles play. EMU is now 4-0 at home on the season.

Freshman Haley Dekkinga was the only Huskie to split sets with her opponent, but ultimately fell at fourth singles 6-4, 3-6, 10-6.

The Huskies did not fare any better in Toledo as the Rockets (11-6, 2-0) continued their impressive season.

Even with the lackluster performance from his lineup thus far, head coach Ryun Ferrell has remained optimistic that his team has potential to keep growing.

“We are getting better and better match by match,” Ferrell said. “I like what I am seeing out on the courts and we are heading in the right direction.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams will return to action on Friday, when the men hit the road to play Ball State, while the women Huskies will stay home to go up against Miami (OH).