The Huskies (9-7 overall, 0-1 MAC) won the doubles point but couldn’t hang on to the lead and dropped a 4-3 decision to the Bulls (6-8, 2-2) on Saturday.

“This is a very disappointing loss,” NIU head coach Pontus Hiort said. “They had a lot of energy and determination, and we just couldn’t match it. Not the way we wanted to start off MAC play, but we’ll look to bounce back next weekend.”

Gali ran his personal-best winning streak to 15 as the Barcelona native downed Buffalo’s Nick Zieziula 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.

But Buffalo rebounded by taking four of the last five singles matches as Matt Kennedy scored the decisive 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 decision over NIU’s Adam Ford at No. 5 singles.

Prior to the loss, the Huskies had won 20 of the previous 21 matches against the Bulls.

WMU bucks NIU

Home court has not been kind to NIU women’s tennis this year as Western Michigan extended its dominance of the Huskies with a sweep on Saturday.

The Broncos (11-5 overall, 3-0 MAC) didn’t drop a set in handing NIU (4-6, 0-3) its third straight home loss.

After going 3-1 in home matches last year, the Huskies are now 2-4 while splitting time between DeKalb and Rockford this year.

After a close 8-6 decision over NIU’s Ivonne Andrade and Christy Svetlic at No. 1 doubles, Western Michigan cruised the rest of the way.

The Broncos also defeated the Huskies 6-1 last year in Kalamazoo and have shutout five opponents on the season. Over the last four years, WMU has taken 22 of 28 individual matches from NIU.

NIU continues its MAC schedule next weekend on the road at Buffalo and Akron.