DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team returns to the road for the second consecutive week as the Huskies head to Omaha, Neb., for a trio of matches. The Huskies will open with a Friday afternoon (Jan. 27) match against Creighton before meeting North Dakota in a neutral site match on Friday evening. NIU will close the weekend on Saturday (Jan. 28) when it visits Omaha. 

The Huskies opened the dual match portion of the season last weekend, falling in a pair of matches against George Washington, 5-2, and Drake, 4-0. Freshman Bor Schweiger Muzar (Crnomelj, Slovenia/Gimnm) and junior Louis-Philippe Hamel (Drummondville, Quebec, Canada) each picked up wins in the dual against the three-time Atlantic 10 champion Colonials. Muzar's victory was his 13th of the season while Hamel was playing for the first time since the season-opening River Forest Invitational due to injury. 

Creighton opened the season last weekend with a 7-0 setback at Iowa (Jan. 21). The Bluejays went 10-10 last season under the direction of Tim Lilly, who is in his 20th season as head coach at Creighton. NIU and Creighton both played in the Drake Invitational during the fall, meeting three times in singles play with Bluejays taking two of the three matches. 

North Dakota also comes into this weekend with a 0-1 record after dropping a 7-0 decision last weekend against Minnesota (Jan. 22), the Fighting Hawks were selected to finish 11th in the Big Sky. North Dakota also joined NIU and Creighton at the Drake Invitational this past fall, with the Huskies winning all three head-to-head singles matches during the event. 

The Huskies will close the weekend against Omaha who comes into play with a 1-1 record, having opened the season with a 6-1 loss at Oklahoma (Jan. 15) before earning a 4-3 victory at Nebraska (Jan. 21). The Mavericks posted an 11-15 mark a season ago, falling in the Summit League semifinals to Denver. Omaha freshman Razvan Grigorescu is the reigning Summit League Player of the Week. 

NIU will play at home for the first time this season next weekend as the Huskies host Green Bay on Friday, Feb. 3, as well as Wisconsin-Whitewater and Cardinal Stritch on Saturday, Feb. 4. All three matches will take place at Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford.