Tennis gets mixed results

By Nick Gerts

The weekend brought mixed results for the NIU men’s tennis team as the Huskies went 1-1.

Players sought revenge against Toledo on Friday and got it, defeating the Rockets 5-2. The win was the Huskies’ second straight.

NIU (11-10 overall, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) jumped on the Rockets quickly, picking up the doubles point and taking momentum into singles play.

Raymond Van Wasbeek defeated Dipesh Rao 7-6, 6-2 at the No. 1 slot, while Juan Pablo Barriga of NIU beat Pete Baghadati in three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

“It’s nice to get a win, especially since Toledo beat us twice last season,” NIU head coach Steven Rodecap said. “It was a pretty good team atmosphere out there today. We had a look of confidence and a lot of energy. We played very well together in doubles, and everyone was out there cheering each other on.”

NIU saw its two-game winning streak snapped against Bowling Green on Saturday as the Huskies came out flat against the Falcons and lost 7-0.

The Huskies only won one match, in the doubles play. Van Wasbeek and Aaron Forsberg defeated Vitek Wild and Mike Kossoff 8-3.

NIU almost earned the doubles point, but the No. 3 team of Brent Sitarski and Jon Perlman lost 9-8 to the Falcons’ Nicolas Lopez-Acevado and Nick Moxley.

“We started poorly in the singles after dropping the doubles point and we didn’t handle it well,” Rodecap said. “It’s disappointing that we did not compete better, especially after the way we played [Friday]. We seemed to feel sorry for ourselves and when our backs were against the wall, we didn’t step up.”