The NIU men’s tennis team is out for revenge at the Mid-American Conference tournament this weekend.

The Huskies, placed at the No. 4 seed, face No. 5 Toledo today in a noon matchup at Western Michigan University.

Junior Jon Perlman said his team wants to return a favor from last season when the Rockets ousted the Huskies 4-0 in the first round, ending what was a

disappointing season for the Huskies. In their only meeting this year, the Huskies (13-10, 2-3 MAC) defeated Toledo 5-2 on April 13 in the Rockets’ last home game of the season.

If the Huskies defeat the Rockets (5-13 overall, 1-4 MAC), they will go on to face NIU coach Steve Rodecap’s alma mater, Ball State, in the second round.

“This season has been an exciting and interesting one,” Perlman said. “Hopefully we go in and get some revenge to a team that beat us in the first round last year.”

They could have packed the season in after going on a four-game losing streak at the beginning of the spring season, losing to Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State.

Perlman credits a 5-2 win over Citadel during spring break with turning around the Huskies’ year. The win gave them the confidence they needed to finish the season 6-5.

“We went into spring break not knowing what to expect,” Perlman said. “After that win, our attitudes changed. We went into the next game against Eastern Carolina and beat them. We started to know we can go into close matches and pull off the win.”