If there’s one program the NIU women’s tennis team would like to play in the first round of the MAC Tournament, it’s Akron.

Fortunately for the Huskies, that’s exactly who they are playing Thursday at noon in Buffalo.

Unfortunately for the eight-seed Huskies (5-11 overall, 1-7 MAC), a victory over ninth-seed Akron (5-14, 0-8) means they will move on to play the top-seed Western Michigan. The Broncos went undefeated in MAC play and are nationally ranked.

But before NIU can worry about the Broncos it will need to defeat the Zips for the second time this season to move on.

“Akron will be out to get us because we beat them earlier [this season],” NIU women’s tennis coach Ryun Ferrell said. “Confidence is never a problem. We’ve never had to keep it up because they’ve been there. The girls have always done that on their own.”

NIU’s win against Akron earlier this season came by the slightest of margins, escaping with a 4-3 win.

One of the highlights of that match was in the No. 1 singles slot. NIU’s Nao Umemura came back to beat Akron’s Tanyaradzwa Gombera 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in their last meeting.

In the prior meeting, NIU’s No. 2 singles slot, junior Lilian Asuaje, made short work of her opponent winning 6-0, 6-0.

According to Ferrell, one of the keys for NIU this time around will be patience.

“I like relating it to boxing,” Ferrell said. “A lot of times the girls keep trying to throw knockout punches and when you do you leave yourself vulnerable. It’s a lot of pressure and if you don’t connect you will lose that point.”

One of the Huskies strong points this season has been their doubles play. The tandem of senior Dora Delgadillo and junior Jenny Edner has produced the best results with an overall record of 14-8.

“It seems like we’re in every doubles point,” Ferrell said. “I think when it comes to singles the girls get a little lonely.”