After losing to Western Michigan 5-2 last weekend, the men’s tennis team (12-6, 1-1) will travel to Indiana this weekend to face off against conference rival Ball State (12-6, 1-0 MAC) and non-conference team Indiana University-Purdue University Fort...
With an early win in conference playing against the Chicago State Cougars (1-16) earlier in the season, the men’s tennis team got back into its conference games Friday against Western Michigan (15-7, 1-0 MAC), losing 5-2. Heading into the matchup, the...
The women’s tennis team can’t seem to find its way back into the winning column as it lost to Bowling Green, 5-2, and Western Michigan, 6-1 this weekend. Those two losses gave the Huskies their longest losing streak of the season, as they have not...
After a bad start in conference play, the Huskies are excited to get back to playing again, and will go against Bowling Green (12-2) and Western Michigan (9-9) this upcoming weekend. Looking back at the start of the Huskies’ conference play, they came...
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....
The women’s tennis team started off its conference play on the losing end, dropping its first two conference games to Akron and Buffalo. The Huskies (14-4, 0-2 MAC) played two-time defending champions Akron (11-6, 1-0 MAC) for their first match of conference...
The men’s tennis team is set to play its last non-conference game when it goes take on Southern Illinois University Carbondale (8-2). SIU is currently on a six-game winning streak with its most recent win coming against Chicago State (1-15). SIU’s...
With the NCAA men’s basketball tournament coming up, everybody is going to turn their attention and watch if their team can make it to the next round of the tournament. In the 2013 NCAA tournament, the No. 1 seeds are Louisville (29-5) in the Midwest,...
When spring break came to a close, the NIU men’s tennis team came out with an 11-5 record, winning two out of its three matches. The Huskies faced quality teams in Stetson University (10-0), the Appalachian State Mountaineers (3-8) and Army (8-4) during...
The women’s tennis team’s unbeaten streak of nine games came to a close over spring break by the hands of a 6-1 loss to University of Illinois-Chicago. The Huskies bounced back with wins against Missouri-Kansas City, 6-1, and Emporia State, 7-0, to...
