Sept. 22, 2011

DEKALB, Ill. - Coming off a productive weekend at the River Forest Collegiate Invitational last weekend, the Northern Illinois men's tennis team will return to action this weekend at the Drake Invitational Sept. 23-25 in Des Moines, Iowa. The action will begin at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Northern Illinois, along with Creighton, Drake, Gustavus Adolphus, Iowa and Northern Colorado, will make up the six team field at the Bulldogs Roger Knapp Tennis Center. Competition will begin Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. Gustavus Adolphus was a Division III NCAA Tournament qualifier last season.

Maksym Bartiuk and Axel Lagerlof both finished the tournament undefeated in singles and doubles last weekend, finishing 4-0 and 2-0 in doubles, with partners Maksym Lagutin and Max Phillips, respectively. Phillips was undefeated in doubles, but finished even in singles at 2-2. He won both his matches on day one, but loss two close matches on day with scores of 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 and 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.

The River Forest Collegiate was a clay court tournament and the facilities at the tennis club are one of the oldest and most prestigious in the state of Illinois.

Following the invitational at Drake, Northern Illinois will take a week's rest from competition and return to action Oct. 7-9 for the Wildcat Invitational, hosted by Northwestern.