April 10, 2011

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Northern Illinois men's tennis team picked up its second-straight win to end its road trip in the State of Indiana, knocking off IPFW, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon. The Huskies won four singles match to claim the victory over the Mastodons.

"There was a lot of adversity that was thrown at us," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "But our team was just resilient today. We didn't play our best today but we still found a way to win. The top of our lineup is continuing to come through for us and we are having different guys step up at the bottom and that is helping us."

Playing in extremely windy conditions, IPFW edged the doubles point to take an early advantage. Axel Lagerlof and Roman Turtygin were 8-6 winners at number one doubles. IPFW won the match at number two and, despite trailing 7-3, came from behind to win the third doubles match as well.

In singles play, Lagerlof and Maksym Bartiuk continued to pace the Huskies with wins at number one and two. Lagerlof defeated Roberto Cabrini, 6-3, 6-2 at flight one for his 16th victory of the season. Bariuk claimed a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Francisco Sigaud at flight two for his 15th win of the spring.

At number three, Turtygin won the first set against Dean Guyer, 7-6. Guyer led in the second set, 3-2, when he retired due to injury, giving NIU a third singles win.

The fourth, and clinching, Huskie victory came in flight five as Tyler Stephens was a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Junya Saruta.

The victory was the 11th of the season for NIU, bettering last season's win total of 10. The Huskies are now 11-12 on the season.

"The biggest thing for us is finishing strong here at the end of the season," said Fisher. "That is something we didn't do a great job of last season. Last year, we would have lost this type of match but today we found a way to win when we weren't at the top of our game."

NIU will return to action next Saturday, April 16, when it returns to the road for a Mid-American Conference match at Toledo. The Huskies will also play at Cleveland State on Sunday, April 17.

Northern Illinois 4, IPFW 3

Doubles
1. Lagerlof/Turtygin (NIU) def. Cabrini/Sigaud (IPFW), 8-6
2. Kang/Saruta (IPFW) def. Bartiuk/Lagutin (NIU), 8-4
3. Kanavos/Guyer (IPFW) def. Poggensee-Wei/Stephens (NIU), 9-8 (3)

Singles
1. Axel Lagerlof (NIU) def. Roberto Cabrini (IPFW), 6-3, 6-2
2. Maksym Bartiuk (NIU) def. Francisco Sigaud (IPFW), 6-2, 6-2
3. Roman Turtygin (NIU) def. Dean Guyer (IPFW), 7-6 (5), 2-3, ret.
4. Daniel Kang (IPFW) def. Maksym Lagutin (NIU), 3-6, 6-4, 10-7
5. Tyler Stephens (NIU) def. Junya Saruta (IPFW), 6-2, 7-5
6. Eduardo Sztrajtman (IPFW) def. Bryant Poggensee-Wei (NIU), 6-3, 7-5