Despite Willy Gali’s 16th straight victory, the NIU men’s tennis team came up short as defending MAC champion Western Michigan defeated the Huskies 6-1 on Saturday in DeKalb.

In a rematch of last year’s conference final, NIU (9-8 overall, 0-2 MAC) could not keep up with the aggressiveness of Western Michigan (15-5, 3-0).

“We could have gotten a quicker start,” NIU senior Erick Martinez said. “They were quicker and more intense and we didn’t match their intensity as well as we wanted to.”

Even with a 14-1 home record the last two years, NIU lost its home-court advantage early. The Broncos took all three doubles matches thanks to effective net attacks the Huskies couldn’t neutralize with passing shots. In the process, WMU’s Tommy Dennis and Brady Crosby improved their No. 1 doubles record to 17-2 with an 8-3 defeat of Gali and Alex Friesen.

Gali put his singles winning streak on the line against Dennis again a few minutes later. But the Barcelona-native used strong forehands and deft passing shots to frustrate his opponent and register a 6-1, 6-4 victory to run his season record to 24-4.

“Anytime the team loses, it’s a bad day because it’s a team sport,” NIU coach Pontus Hiort said. “But having said that, [Gali] has been very good all year long. We know he will get into the match, and he’s been carrying us all year.”

But the Huskies could not build off Gali’s momentum and lost the remaining five singles matches. Martinez came closest to forcing a third set but dropped a tiebreaker to Jose Orozco, who triumphed 6-3, 7-6.

“These guys from Western Michigan are tough,” Martinez said. “They’ve beaten some Big Ten teams and they’re definitely solid players, so they don’t miss a lot of balls. You have to make them miss. There’s more room for improvement and we need to get more consistent, that’s for sure.”

WOMEN’S TENNIS

After losing its first four MAC matches of the season, NIU women’s tennis bounced back with a weekend road split at Buffalo and Akron.

The Huskies (5-7 overall, 1-4 MAC) came into Buffalo in need of a victory after opening its conference schedule by losing three straight matches at home.

Wins at No. 2 and 3 doubles clinched the doubles point and gave NIU a 1-0 lead. But the advantage was short-lived as the Bulls (7-3, 3-2) took five of the six singles matches en route to a 5-2 triumph.

But the struggling Akron Zips (6-15, 0-6), who have lost 10 in a row, proved to be just the opponents the Huskies needed.

NIU only dropped three points in taking all three doubles matches, led by Cassie Drake and Daniela Martinez’s 8-0 win at No. 2.

The Huskies kept up the pressure and didn’t lose a set in singles play for a 7-0 sweep, highlighted by Drake’s 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles.

The Huskies return home for a 1 p.m. match Tuesday against DePaul at the West Campus Courts.