Sept. 29, 2011

DEKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois men's tennis team will continue its fall season this weekend at the 33rd Annual Ball State Invitational, beginning Friday and wrapping up Sunday. It is the Huskies third-straight weekend tournament and the final preparation before the team heads to Columbus, Ohio for the ITA Midwest Regional.

Like their previous tournament, the River Forest Collegiate, the Huskies shared outstanding success at the Drake Invitational, with Axel Lagerlof reaching the A bracket final and Max Phillips and Lagerlof taking the doubles A bracket consolation championship. Maksym Lagutin and Bryant Wei picked up their first triumphs of the autumn season last weekend as well.

Lagerlof, a native of Malmo, Sweden, owns a 7-1 singles record this fall, with his only blemish in Sunday's final, 6-2, 6-2. He seems to picking up where he left off last year as the Mid-American Conference's Newcomer of the Year. Maksym Bartiuk, the 2010 MAC Newcomer of the Year, has also had a solid start to the fall and is 5-1 this season.

This weekend's tournament is a 12-team field, which includes Ball State, Butler, DePaul, Duquesne, Eastern Kentucky, IPFW, IUPUI, Louisville, Marquette, Northern Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The tournament includes three flights (A, B, and C) of singles with draws of 32 apiece. There will also be three flights of doubles with draws of 16 apiece. There will also be consolation play for first round losers in both singles and doubles.

Northern Illinois will return to action Oct. 13-18 for the ITA Midwest Regional. The ITA will announce its qualifiers soon. Be sure to check back with NIUHuskies.com for updates.