ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men’s tennis team earned a 4-3 victory over Binghamton on Friday afternoon in its Mid-American Conference opening match at Boylan Tennis Center. After dropping the doubles point, the Huskies rallied to win four singles matches to improve to 4-2 on the season.

“This game had every emotion you could have,” said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. “It went back-and-forth until the end. It was truly a great game and both teams had multiple opportunities win.

“Obviously I’m happy for the guys but to have this experience, I'm hopeful this will help our young team as the season progresses. In sports there are never any guarantees from one week to the next so we need continue getting better. We have a lot improving to do but we are always going forward not matter what.”

After falling behind with the doubles point, NIU rallied with four singles victories, including a pair of three set wins. Junior Simon Formont (Orléans, France/Lycée Camille Claudel) earned a 6-2, 7-5 victory at number one over Sid Hazarika while at number six, sophomore Carlos Manzanas (Madrid, Spain/IES Principe Felipe) was a 6-3, 6-0 victor over Frenk Kote.

The Bearcats earned a win at number three, leaving the decision to the trio of three-set matches at two, four and five.

Freshman Louis-Philippe Hamel (Drummondville, Quebec, Canada) dropped the first set at number five, 6-1, but rallied past Thomas Caputo with a 6-3 second set victory and a 6-3 third set win.

The closest match of the day came at number four as freshman Georg Lundkvist (Linkoping, Sweden/Lindkopings Kommun) played nearly even with Binghamton’s Ismael Dinia through two sets, each claiming a set, 7-6. In the third, Lundkvist clinched the match with a 7-5 victory as NIU opened league play with a victory.  

The Huskies will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 14, as they host Western Illinois and Youngstown State in Rockford. The match against the Leathernecks is slated for 1 p.m., with the match against the Penguins to follow at 5 p.m.

NIU 4, Binghamton 3

Doubles
1. Hazarika/Dinia (Bing) def. Daun/Cadieux, 6-2
2. Lesage/Hureau (Bing) def. Lundkvist/Hamel, 7-6
3. Caputo/Kote (Bing) def. Formont/Hjertonsson, 6-4

Singles
1. Simon Formont (NIU) def. Sid Hazarika (Bing), 6-2, 7-5
2. Robin Lesage (Bing) def. Frederic Cadieux (NIU), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
3. Eliott Hureau (Bing) def. Tom Hjertonsson (NIU), 6-2, 6-3
4. Georg Lundkvist (NIU) def. Ismael Dinia (Bing), 7-6, 6-7, 7-5
5. Louis-Philippe Hamel (NIU) def. Thomas Caputo (Bing), 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
6. Carlos Manzanas (NIU) def. Frenk Kote (Bing), 6-3, 6-0