Men’s tennis pushes win streak to four in home sweep

NIU remains defeated after back-to-back victories over Eastern Illinois and UIC in DeKalb.

April+27%2C+2018%3A+during+the+2018+Mid-American+Mens+Tennis+Championship+between+the+Buffalo+Bulls+and+Northern+Illinois+Huskies+at+the+Miller+Tennis+Center+in+Amherst%2C+N.Y.+%28Nicholas+T.+LoVerde%29

April 27, 2018: during the 2018 Mid-American Men’s Tennis Championship between the Buffalo Bulls and Northern Illinois Huskies at the Miller Tennis Center in Amherst, N.Y. (Nicholas T. LoVerde)

By Waleed Alamleh, Sports Reporter

DeKALB — Men’s tennis hosted Eastern Illinois University and the University of Illinois at Chicago for a doubleheader Tuesday, winning 4-0 and 4-1 respectively.

The Huskies kicked off their first of two matchups Tuesday with a 4-1 win against the Panthers. NIU won five of its six singles matchups that were played. Junior Oliver Valentinsson received the first win of the night, winning 6-0, 6-4, in two sets.

Sophomore Mikko Malinen won the second match 6-4, 6-0. The hope of a sweep ended in the third singles match as sophomore Luke Vandonslear dropped his match against EIU redshirt sophomore Thomas Wallace 2-6, 2-6.

NIU was able to take both of its doubles matches, with the duo of Mikael Vollbach and Malinen winning their match 7-5. NIU’s other doubles pair of freshmen Jacob Krefting and Valentinsson were able to take care of their matchup, winning 6-2

The Huskies followed up their win against the Panthers with another dominant showing against the Flames, winning 4-0. NIU dropped a combined three sets in the nine matches played against Flames’ players. In singles play, the Huskies only had to play three of their eight matches as the team took care of business early, winning the match before all the games were completed.

Sophomore Michael Vollbach started the match with a rather easy win, only dropping two games 6-1, 6-1. Sophomore Mikko Malinen followed up with his own two-set win, 6-1, 6-4. Junior  Valentinsson played a competitive three set match, eventually winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

NIU won the only two doubles matches that were played against the Flames. The pair of sophomores Luke Vandonslear and Armin Koschtojan won their matchup 6-3. Krefting and Valentinsson topped that performance with a 6-2 win in the following matchup.

NIU will look to continue its 4-0 winning streak at 4:15 p.m Sunday when they travel to DePaul University for a matchup with the Blue Devils.