Men’s tennis bounced back from a season-opening loss with a winning record in its second weekend of competition.The Huskies beat the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks, 7-0, and the Illinois-Chicago Flames, 5-2, Friday in Rockford. Sunday, the Huskies beat...
Athletics looks to be headed in the right direction during the first year of Sean Frazier’s tenure as Athletics director. His strategy to improve Athletics and the school as a whole through renovations to Huskie Stadium are well-intentioned but vague.The...
The MAC Tournament is something this year’s men’s tennis team is no stranger to.With four players from their 2012 run and five from their 2013 run still on board, the Huskies have a lot of experience in the tournament. The players have shared the...
It was an up-and-down weekend for men’s tennis as it upset No. 1 seed Ball State in the first round of the MAC Championships only to fall in the finals to Western Michigan. On Friday, NIU managed to punch its ticket to the Finals with a 4-2 against...
In its last weekend of the season, the women’s tennis team had some highs and lows as it faced the Ball State Cardinals (14-10, 5-3 MAC) and Miami of Ohio RedHawks (11-12, 7-1 MAC). The Huskies lost both matches 5-2 to put them 14-10 on the season and...
It was another tough weekend for the women’s tennis team (14-8, 0-6 MAC), as it comes off two losses from the Toledo Rockets (8-11, 2-4 MAC) and Eastern Michigan Eagles (8-12, 3-3 MAC) to make it the Huskies’ sixth straight loss in conference play....
During the men’s tennis season there have been a couple of standouts, none more than Dor Amir. Amir is a red shirt sophomore from Tel Aviv, Israel. He attended Rothberg High School and is currently the Huskies’ No. 2 player. Outside of his love, playing...
NIU men’s tennis will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. Friday to open up its MAC play against Western Michigan (11-7, 1-0 MAC).
Western Michigan won the MAC Tournament from 2006 to 2010, but lost in the semifinals last season to eventual champion Ball State. NIU coach Patrick Fisher is familiar with Western Michigan’s success and knows first-hand how tough the Broncos are; he’s never beaten them in his tenure at NIU.
“Everyone in their lineup is a threat,” Fisher said. “They’ve won the league and gone to the tournament, I would say, seven or eight times out of the last 10. They are the team to beat. They are the class of the league. I think in a lot of ways they’ve been like the Akron of men’s soccer; no one really can beat them on a regular basis.”
The Huskies (14-5) have not matched the Broncos’ success over the past few seasons, but have steadily improved in each campaign.
This season has gone exceptionally well for NIU, already accumulating its most team wins since its 16-win 2002-03 showing with nine matches still scheduled.
The Huskies have made it clear they are ready to be the new breed of the MAC, and with a lineup capable of putting up 14 wins without two-time All-MAC performer Maksym Bartiuk, the once-tested depth of the lineup seems to no longer be a problem.
“We’ve had to deal with an unhealthy lineup this whole year,” Fisher said. “Regardless of where we are at, we still feel we have a good chance to win. We’ve won a lot already without having guys in the lineup at certain times this year.”
Fisher said his current roster has what it takes to avenge last season’s 6-1 loss to the Broncos.
“We’re really excited,” Fisher said. “We’re probably in the best shape going into the conference play in the last four or five years. Obviously, we’ve won a lot and our guys have some great confidence right now. Except for a couple matches, we’ve been in position to win every single match and I don’t see that changing this week.”
When it comes to playing at home and playing away, most people think the only difference is being home you have the crowd advantage, but that isn’t the only thing. When it comes to having to go to an away match there’s a lot of things that have to...
There is a lot more to playing tennis than just trying to hit the ball hard. In order to win, a player has to figure out ways to utilize different kinds of techniques. Ryun Ferrell, the women’s tennis head coach, said tennis is fairly similar to golf....
Men’s tennis team will play just one more match before heading into conference play, and one player to keep an eye on is Frederic Cadieux. Cadieux is a sophomore business major from Quebec, Canada, and attended Ediuard-Montpetit High School. He’s...
