DeKALB — NIU men’s tennis was victorious on Sunday in its first match of Mid-American Conference play against the Binghamton University Bearcats.

Overcoming two early losses to Binghamton, the Huskies rallied to record five straight singles victories, overcoming their initial struggles to finish the day with a final score of 5-2.

Sunday’s first match was a doubles loss for NIU, as Binghamton senior Kushaan Nath and junior Alejandro Pena scored a 6-2 win.

NIU was unfortunately forced to forfeit the doubles point, fielding only 5 competitors on the day due to sickness of several members of the roster. Its streak of poor luck continued as it was also forced to forfeit the sixth singles match of the day as well.

NIU’s fortunes quickly turned around following this, as sophomore David Pata claimed a comfortable two-set victory over Nath to start singles play. Following Pata was fellow sophomore Mikko Malinen, winning similarly against Binghamton’s Pena.

The Huskies leveled the score at 3-3 when junior Victor Spolidorio claimed a tight two-set win over first-year Dan Pergal, 7-6 and 6-3.

With two matches to go, the victor was to be decided from the final two matches.

Binghampton looked to be in control, winning the first set in both matches. However, the Huskies were not beaten so easily, as seniors Bor Schweiger Muzar and Shao-Yu Yu staged two-set comebacks to win their respective matches and give NIU the win.

Mid-American Conference play will begin in earnest starting on Friday, as NIU begins a long road-stretch, playing seven matches in three weeks. Its next meet comes against DePaul at 7:15 p.m., with the Huskies traveling to Chicago to meet the 6-9 Blue Demons at Lakeshore Sport & Fitness.