Victory has not been a familiar word in the NIU men’s tennis team’s vocabulary so far this season and Saturday’s meets were no exception.

The most recent losses came against the University of Illinois (5-2) and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (6-3) in Champaign.

Against the Fighting Illini, Steve Senter and Andy Schoeberlein were the only Huskies to win their singles matches.

Senter won in a tight match 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, and Schoeberlein won 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

In the next meet against SIU-Edwarsville, NIU was down 5-1 after the singles competition, but would not go down without a fight.

The Huskies almost pulled off a doubles sweep, but Steve Senter and David Edelman lost a heartbreaker 7-6(7-5), 3-6, 7-6(7-4).

The loss dropped head coach Chuck Merzbacher’s team to 2-10 on the season.

“I still believe this may be my best team, but we’re simply a young team learning with each match,” Merzbacher said.

On the women’s side, the team fared no better in a 6-3 loss to Western Michigan University Friday.

The key to the Huskie loss, however, may not have been a lack of talent—it may have just been bad luck.

Brenda Dean went down with a back injury, which forced her to forfeit her No. 5 singles match as well as the No. 3 double

Head coach Patty Groth stressed that future wins were more important than risking Dean’s back by allowing her to continue.

Sarah Murfey at No. 1 singles won her match with relative ease 6-2, 6-4 and Jami Cheek at No. 3 came back strong after a 0-6 loss in the first set. She charged back and won the final two sets 6-4, 6-4.

The team of Sarah Murfey and Hild Andersch also pulled off a victory in the doubles competition.