For the second consecutive time, the NIU men’s tennis team fell to a Big Ten school.

After losing 6-1 to Michigan last week, the Huskies (0-2) dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 31 Wisconsin on Sunday.

“This weekend we competed very well in every spot,” said NIU head coach Pawel Gajdzik. “Wisconsin has the potential to be Top 20 in the nation. I think our guys know that if they work out hard and improve, we can hang with the best in the nation. It’s just going to take a little more experience and hard work.”

Sophomore Matt Hansen recorded a 6-2, 6-4 victory in the No. 3 singles slot, while senior Javier Bernabe also picked up a singles win in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

“Matt is improving a lot. He’s the most improved player from last year,” Gajdzik said. “And it was nice to see Javier win a match against a big name team like Wisconsin. I hope he’ll have a little more confidence and know that we need him.”

The doubles tandem of freshman Ross VanderPloeg and junior Shaun Stewart also picked up a win for the Huskies, knocking off the No. 3 doubles pair of Michael Koval and Peter Marrack, 8-7 in a pro-set decision.

Women’s Tennis

Former Huskie tennis player Ivonne Andrade Ovalle was recently named assistant coach of the NIU women’s tennis team by head coach Ryun Ferrel.

Ovalle spent two years playing at NIU after transferring from Texas Christian in 2002.

“She played high for Northern and I coached against her a lot when I was at Drake,” Ferrel said. “I never took her down, and that’s when I had some good teams who ranked higher than Northern.”

Ferrel said Ovalle’s skills with recruiting players from countries like Mexico and Spain made the choice a no-brainer. He also said that Ovalle will be able to bring a new face and a new tone to the team, filling in holes that he couldn’t.

“There’s some things as a male head coach with females athletes that you just can’t help with,” Ferrel said. “She has the biggest heart I’ve ever seen and cares so much, and that’s just a huge hole to fill. I’m a Bill Parcells kind of guy, I work them hard. She keeps me pretty even; if I start to cross the line, she brings me right back.”

Women’s Track and Field

A sixth-place finish was all the NIU women’s track team could take home Saturday after competing in the Carle/Health Alliance Invitational hosted by the University of Illinois.

The Huskies scored 32 points, 122.5 behind the first place Illini who tallied 155.5. The invitational featured seven teams, mostly from Illinois.

Freshman Nancy Nieto was the spark for the NIU Women’s track team as she took fourth place in both the 1-mile and 1,000-meter runs. Nieto put up a 5:18.68 mile along with a 3:09.20 1,000-meter run to notch two Huskie bests for the year.