April 1, 2011

Full Match Results

ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Northern Illinois men's tennis team opened Mid-American Conference play with a pair of matches on Friday at the Boylan Tennis Center. The Huskies opened the day against Western Michigan, falling 6-1, before rebounding to beat Chicago State, an affiliate member of the MAC, 5-0.

"We played about as well as we could today," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "We have a small margin for error and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves after losing the doubles but we hung right in there with Western. They were picked to win the league and they are extremely talented. At one, two and three we hung right in there and made it a match for a bit. "

Axel Lagerlof posted a three-set victory over Kazuya Komada at number two singles. Lagerlof took the first set, 6-2, before dropping a close second set, 6-7. Lagerlof rebounded to win the 10-point third-set tiebreaker, 11-9. The victory was Lagerlof's 14th singles victory of the season.

At number one, Maksym Bartiuk also played a tight three-set match. Bartiuk dropped the first set to Michael Calderone, 6-2. Bartiuk answered by taking the second set, 6-4, but Calderone claimed the third-set tiebreaker, 10-3.

NIU rebounded for the match against Western Michigan with a 5-0 victory over Chicago State. The Huskies and Cougars did not play doubles and played just five singles matches, with NIU sweeping all five matches.

"We responded from the Western (Michigan) match by doing what we needed to do against Chicago State," said Fisher. "It took our guys a bit to get back up after the first match, but when we did the guys responded well."

Bryant Poggensee-Wei and Tyler Stephens each won 6-0, 6-0 at number four and five, respectively. Roman Turtygin and Maksym Lagutin each took the first set of their matches, 7-5. Turtygin finished off his straight-sets win at number two with a 6-4 win in set two. Lagutin was a 6-1 winner in the second set at number three.

Bartiuk helped NIU complete the five-match sweep with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ankit Chopra at number one singles.

NIU will return to action on Sunday, April 3, as the Huskies host nationally-ranked Drake at the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, Ill. The match is scheduled to begin at noon.