March 15, 2006

Jacksonville, FL -- Two days after rain wiped away what should have been the Northern Illinois University men's tennis team's first opportunity to play outside on its spring break tour, the Huskies found themselves too rusty to take on a talented University of North Florida squad.

The host Ospreys cruised to a 7-0 victory in order to improve to 9-5 while Northern Illinois saw its ledger slip to 3-7 heading into a Thursday (March 16) 2 p.m. (CST) contest against Florida A&M University.

"North Florida has a lot of South American players who are very solid, consistent competitors. When we didn't start off competing well enough, it was like digging a hole. Unfortunately, we not only weren't able to dig our way out, their momentum helped carry them to victory," NIU coach Pontus Hiort said. "And the further it went, the less fight we had. We've got to get our confidence back up and be ready to play from the very start."

Northern Illinois found itself down 1-0 as UNF's Ospreys swept all three doubles matches as NIU's No. 1 twosome of Brian Livingston (Skokie / Niles North) and Alex Friesen (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada / Burnaby Central) put up the best fight in terms of scoring. North Florida's German Escallon and Leonardo Gomes prevailed by an 8-5 tally.

In singles, the Huskies' Jimmy Chu (Lima, Peru / San Augustin) came up short at the No. 5 position, but only after a three-set battle. North Florida's Escallon was able to come back from a 7-5 first-set defeat to post conquests of 6-2 and 6-4. The other singles matches were all two-set triumphs for UNF with Northern Illinois' Alex Monroy (Mexico City, Mexico / Colegio Aleman) falling by identical 6-4 tallies to Glen Marshall.

After Thursday's match, which takes place at Florida Community College of Jacksonville, the Huskies complete their spring break slate with a Friday (March 17) 2 p.m. (CST) match at Jacksonville University.

MEN'S TENNIS -- Northern Illinois University at University of North Florida / at Jacksonville, FL / UNF Tennis Complex / Non-Conference Dual / Wednesday / March 15, 2006

NORTH FLORIDA 7, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 0 (at Jacksonville, FL / UNF Tennis Complex)

Doubles: No. 1 -- German Escallon / Leonardo Gomes (UNF) def. Alex Friesen / Brian Livingston (NIU), 8-5 No. 2 -- Matias Sigal / Jose Terrera (UNF) def. Alex Monroy / David Katz (NIU), 8-2 No. 3 -- Elad Gabay / Eduardo Pereira (UNF) def. Diego Zegarra-Ballon / Adam Ford (NIU) 8-3

Singles No. 1 -- Eduardo Pereira (UNF) def. Brian Livingston (NIU), 6-3, 6-3 No. 2 -- Matias Sigal (UNF) def. Alex Friesen (NIU), 6-1, 6-1 No. 3 -- Jose Terrera (UNF) def. Adam Ford (NIU), 6-2, 6-1 No. 4 -- Elad Gabay (UNF) def. David Katz (NIU), 6-0, 6-0 No. 5 -- German Escallon (UNF) def. Jimmy Chu (NIU), 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 No. 6 -- Glen Marshall (UNF) def. Alfonso Monroy (NIU), 6-4, 6-4

Records to Date: NIU now 3-7 / North Florida now 9-5 Next Huskie Match: Thursday / March 16 -- Northern Illinois University vs. Florida A&M University, Jacksonville, FL, 2 p.m.

(For further information, please contact Steve Nemeth) -30-