Anytime you can allow the same number of points as matches you played in a weekend, something is going right.

That’s just what the NIU men’s tennis team did last weekend as it notched two 6-1 wins, hosting Eastern Illinois University and on the road against Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) on Saturday.

The Huskies’ victory over IUPUI gave them their fourth straight victory and their third straight in which they’ve scored six or more points.

“It’s always nice to come up with the wins; it definitely gives you a momentum swing,” said NIU head coach Pawel Gajdzik.

The Huskies have been rolling up momentum over the last few weeks, especially in singles play, where they took every win in straight sets. In Saturday’s dual against IUPUI, NIU’s lone singles loss came due to a forfeit. Freshman Ross VanderPloeg suffered an injury that prevented him from playing in his singles match.

Gajdzik said that the injury was minor and VanderPloeg is expected to be back at full strength within the next two days.

The men’s great play comes at a pivotal time in their nonconference schedule as Gajdzik has recently scheduled a road match against No. 10 ranked Illinois on March 1. This mid-season addition is part of a new scheduling philosophy that Gajdzik brings to the table, seeking to face difficult opponents before entering conference play.

“Our main goal is to become one of the power programs in the nation, and you can only establish this by playing powerful teams,” Gajdzik said. “We had the opportunity to add [Illinois], and although it was in the middle of the season on short notice, we’re not going to shy away from any opportunity like that.”

The Illinois match presents a huge opportunity for NIU to move into the national spotlight, and Gajdzik is confident that the Huskies will be able to play competitive tennis in Urbana.

“We [definitely have] the talent and caliber of players on this year’s team to compete well,’ Gajdzik said. “To be a nationally recognizable program; that’s what we strive for.