DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team opens the dual match portion of its 2016-17 schedule on Saturday, Jan. 21, when the Huskies travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to face Drake and George Washington. The match against George Washington is scheduled for 3 p.m., and the Huskies will face host Drake at 6 p.m.

NIU returns to the court for the first time since November when the Huskies competed at Cleveland State's Viking Invitational. Senior Eric Marbach (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley/University of Denver) and junior Georg Lundkvist (Linkoping, Sweden/Lindkopings Kommun) earned the doubles title at Cleveland State, going a perfect 5-0 to capture the crown. 

"It is the beginning of the (dual) season and I think that we are going to play really well, but I know that this is just the start," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "I'm excited to see Eric Marbach play, this will be his first dual match in two years; he has battled injuries, has worked unbelievably hard and is probably playing better than anyone on our team right now. Also, Louis (Hamel) has been healthy and getting back, so I am excited to measure where we are at."

This will be NIU's second trip to Drake this season; during the fall, the Huskies competed in the Drake Invitational with freshman Bor Schweiger Muzar (Crnomelj, Slovenia/Gimnm) reaching the flight two final. Muzar led NIU with 12 singles victories during the fall portion of the schedule.  

The Mid-American Conference released its 2017 Preseason Poll last week and NIU was picked to finish fifth in the conference; Western Michigan was selected as the preseason conference favorite. 

Drake recorded a 17-12 dual match record a season ago, reaching the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament final before falling to Wichita State, 4-3. Bulldog junior Ben Stride finished as the consolation draw runner-up in the fall at the ITA Central Region Championship. Drake will be playing its first dual matches of the season this weekend.

George Washington is the three-time defending champion in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Colonials, under the direction of first-year head coach David Macpherson, are led by Julius Tverijonas, who is ranked 13th in the ITA Atlantic Region. George Washington is also playing its first dual matches of the season this weekend. 

"We have a really tough schedule this year and it shows in our opening matches with Drake and George Washington," said Fisher. "They both have quite a few players coming back, both are top-50 programs in the country and will be ranked high this year. We are excited to get things kicked off against two really good teams."

The Huskies will return to the road next weekend as they travel to Omaha, Neb., for matches against Creighton and North Dakota on Friday, Jan. 27, as well as a matchup with Omaha on Saturday, Jan. 28.