Jan. 30, 2010

Final Results

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Northern Illinois men's tennis team (1-4) dropped a 7-0 decision versus host Michigan State at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing, Mich., Saturday morning.

After capturing the doubles point with three regulation pro-set wins, the Spartans rolled through singles play with six straight-set victories. At No. 1 singles, Maksym Bartiuk dropped a hard-fought 7-5 decision in the opening set, before falling by a count of 6-1 in the decisive second set.

Freshman Mikhail Titov, who picked up his first-career win during the competitive spring season Friday versus Detroit, also battled, falling by a score of 6-3, 6-3 at the third singles slot. Classmate Max Phillips, playing No. 5 singles, dropped a 7-6 (5), 6-3 decision.

"We played much better in singles today, but Michigan State played very well," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "We lost some tough first sets, and that ultimately took the wind out of our sails in some of those matches. If Maksym (Bartiuk) or Max (Phillips) were able to pull off either of those first sets, we may have seen a better result in the team score."

"We only won three games in doubles, and that continues to be our biggest weakness. We don't have a lot of depth, and our newer guys are much more accustomed to playing singles, having grown up playing on clay courts. As I've said before, doubles is going to be a continual work in progress for us."

NIU will travel to the "Heartland" next weekend, traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, to take on host Drake next Saturday (Feb. 6), before facing Big Ten Conference foe Iowa in Iowa City on Sunday beginning at 1:30 p.m.