With the MAC Tournament approaching and momentum on the line, the NIU men’s tennis team faulted Saturday.

The Huskies were shut out by Western Michigan University 7-0 in their conference finale in Kalamazoo, Mich.

“We didn’t play well enough to win,” NIU coach Pontus Hiort said. “We made a lot of careless mistakes.”

NIU (10-7 overall, 2-3 MAC) stayed close with the Broncos in doubles to start, but couldn’t win the point.

The singles matches were a different story. Only NIU’s Alex Friesen was able to force a tiebreaker in singles. Friesen fell short against Alex Birchmeier 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-2).

NIU junior Brian Livingston lost for the first time in 14 matches, falling to WMU’s Kevin Hayward 6-1, 6-2.

“We missed shots we normally make,” Hiort said. “Western Michigan was able to take advantage of that.”

WMU (18-7, 5-0) clinched its second-straight MAC regular season championship with the victory.

The Huskies return to action Thursday, when they host the MAC Tournament.