The cold winter months can be hard for a team on the road.

The NIU women’s tennis team has experienced those winter blues, starting the season 0-3. But that string of hardship came to a close this weekend.

After dropping their third straight match Friday to Indiana State, the Huskies rebounded Saturday to defeat Butler 4-3.

On Friday night, Indiana State swept all three doubles matches to take the initial point. The Sycamores took the doubles momentum and won 4 of the 6 singles matches. Junior Kris Tiedt and freshman Kristi Mcintyre both capitalized on their singles events and earned 2 points for the Huskies.

On Saturday, fate took a complete turn as the Huskies pulled out their first victory of the season against Butler.

The Huskies swept the doubles event and took the first point of the night. The tandems of Branka Savic and Tanja Sukovic, Molly Opel and Tiedt and Karrie Tyloran and Leah Kelso all defeated their Bulldog counterparts.

The doubles-point victory turned out to be the deciding point for the Huskies as they split the six singles matches. Sukovic and Tiedt won in straight sets, and Opel won in three.

Coach Laura Scott was pleased with the victory.

“Our upperclassmen were huge today,” she said. “They went out there and got the job done. Kris played some of the smartest tennis on the team, and Molly won when we needed her most.”

The Huskies will look to add to their winning streak on Friday when they travel to Normal to take on the Illinois State Redbirds.