Jan. 28, 2010

DEKALB – The Northern Illinois men’s tennis team will spend the next two days in East Lansing, Mich., as the Huskies take on Detroit Friday at noon CST and Michigan State Saturday morning beginning at 9 a.m. CST.

The Huskies (0-3) dropped a 6-1 decision to nationally-ranked DePaul last Saturday in Chicago, but freshman Maksym Bartiuk remained unbeaten in his young career with a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 1 singles. Bartiuk, who is 3-0 on the season, has been a catalyst for the Huskies in early spring season play.

“We had a great week of practice,” said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. “Our focus continues to be improving our doubles play and putting together the right combinations.”

“Detroit will be a challenging test for us. They are very strong near the top of their lineup. Then on Saturday, we will have a great opportunity to gauge where we are at against a very talented team from the Big Ten.”

Detroit (1-2) split a pair of matches last weekend, beating IPFW, 5-2, at home and falling to MAC-West member Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. The Titans will be the second opponent of Michigan State’s dual doubleheader Saturday.

The Titans feature the reigning Horizon League Tennis Player of the Year in senior Pjotrs Necajevs, who is 15-2 in singles play and 26-6 overall. Necajevs, who was 4-0 last weekend, was tabbed the Horizon League’s Player of the Week Tuesday.

Michigan State (3-2) will host its third doubleheader of the 2010 campaign Saturday. The Spartans split a home doubleheader last Saturday, with a 4-3 loss to Cleveland State and 6-1 victory over Wright State.

NIU recently participated in the Spartan Invitational in September and dropped its 2009 spring season-opener at Michigan State, 6-1.