January 29, 2006

Livingston Claims Second Win Over Big Ten Foe at No. 2 Singles, But NIU Men's Tennis Falls to Iowa

IOWA CITY, IA --- Although the Northern Illinois University men's tennis crew came out on the low end of a 6-1 battle Sunday (Jan. 29) at the University of Iowa, NIU coach Pontus Hiort viewed the experience as a positive one for his Huskies.

While Iowa's Hawkeyes won their season opener, it was the third straight dual-meet loss for NIU to a Big Ten Conference opponent. But that 0-3 ledger is what Hiort believes will serve as the foundation for future success. And there's also the plus from knowing that No. 2 singles entrant Brian Livingston is now 2-1 against some of the top players in a tough tennis league.

"For the teams coming up on our schedule, we're going to have an advantage having tested ourselves against these Big Ten teams. They've really helped us improve and to identify what works and what we need to work on," Hiort noted. "And for Brian to have two wins against guys playing the No. 2 spot in the Big Ten, that*s a real confidence booster for him. In this case, he also got some revenge for one of his losses during the fall."

Livingston fought hard enough to claim consecutive tiebreakers for a 7-6, 7-6 victory over Iowa's Christian Bierich. He accounted for the lone Huskie point and added the Hawkeye netter to a column that already included a Michigan State University opponent.

Northern Illinois' David Katz fought Iowa's Chaitu Malempati into a three-set tussle before falling 6-7, 7-6, 6-0. In the No. 1 singles slot, UI's Bart van Monsiou earned a 6-4, 7-5 win over Alex Friesen while the Huskies' Adam Ford also put up a battle at No. 3 singles before dropping a 6-4, 7-6 match to J.P. Ritchie. Iowa swept all three doubles matches for a 1-0 lead and then followed up by winning five of the six singles matches to complete the triumph.

The Huskies can now look forward to starting a five-match homestand while utilizing the Clock Tower Inn Tennis Center in Rockford as well as the Rockford Boylan High School Indoor Tennis Center. NIU faces the University of Illinois-Chicago at noon in its first "home" match on Feb. 12.


MEN*S TENNIS --- Northern Illinois University at University of Iowa / UI Recreation Center / at Iowa City, IA / Non-Conference Dual / Sunday / Jan. 29, 2006

IOWA 6, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 1
(at Iowa City, IA)

Doubles:
No. 1---J.P. Ritchie / Brett Taylor (UI) def. Alex Friesen / Adam Ford (NIU) 8-3
No. 2---Bart van Monsiou / Chaitu Malempati (UI) def. Brian Livingston / David Katz (NIU), 8-3
No. 3---Christian Bierich / Aaron Schaechterle (UI) def. Diego Zagarra-Ballon / Jimmy Chu (NIU) 8-4

Singles
No. 1---Bart van Monsiou (UI) def. Alex Friesen (NIU), 6-4, 7-5
No. 2---Brian Livingston (NIU) def. Christian Bierich (UI), 7-6, 7-6
No. 3--J.P. Ritchie (UI) def. Adam Ford (NIU) 6-4, 7-6
No. 4---Chaitu Malempati (UI) def. David Katz (NIU) 6-7, 7-6, 6-0
No. 5---Brett Taylor (UI) def. Alfsono Monroy (NIU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 6---Zach Frisch (UI) def. Diego Zagarra-Ballon (NIU), 6-3, 6-4


Records to Date: NIU now 0-3, Iowa now 1-0
Next Huskie Match:
Sunday / Feb. 12 --- University of Illinois-Chicago at NIU (Clock Tower Inn Tennis Center), Rockford, IL, 12 p.m.