With high-speed winds circulating the Anderson Hall courts, the NIU men’s tennis team opened MAC play with a win against visiting Buffalo on Saturday only to fall the following day on the road against Western Michigan.

Wind gusts from the northwest swirled through at up to 30 miles per hour, blowing serves and groundstrokes to all corners of the court. Despite the adverse tennis conditions, the Huskies shut out Buffalo 7-0.

NIU (13-4 overall, 1-1 MAC) won its eighth-straight match. Over the last three meetings against Buffalo (7-10, 1-3), the Huskies have won 20 of 21 individual matches.

NIU’s Willy Gali ran his record to 23-4 on the season as he dispatched off Buffalo’s Randy Rocchio 6-3, 6-0 at the No. 1 singles position. Prior to the match, Gali and Aaron Forsberg overpowered Rocchio and Yules Hadisubroto en route to an 8-1 win at the No. 1 doubles slot.

“It was all about getting our first serves in and avoiding double faults,” Forsberg said. “We just let our opponents make the mistakes for us and really got into Rocchio’s head and frustrated him.”

Juan Pablo Barriga used his aggressive hitting style to chase Buffalo’s Nick Zieziula 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Barriga said after the match the wind was very frustrating, and he had to play scrappy and grab his opportunities to break his opponent.

Assistant coach Raymond Van Wasbeek said the players did a good job of playing solid despite the weather and kept their mistakes to a minimum.

NIU head coach Pontus Hiort was not with the team this weekend for undisclosed reasons.

Mother Nature did not help the Huskies indoors at Western Michigan on Sunday. NIU’s streak of shutouts reached five, but the Huskies were on the wrong end of the decision, as the Broncos swept the Huskies 7-0.

Van Wasbeek was impressed by Broncos star Ravi Pathanjali.

“Ravi played excellent,” Van Wasbeek said. “He showed a lot of leadership skill and set the tone for the team.”

Pathanjali teamed up with Jeff French to beat Gali and Forsberg 8-5 at No. 1 doubles, then defeated Gali 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 1 singles slot. It was Gali’s first loss since March 3.

“Western Michigan was just hungrier today,” Forsberg said. “They were really out for blood today after we ended their season last year. They had a lot of energy on the court, and they started so fast, we couldn’t catch up in the end.”