DEKALB, Ill. – After 10 consecutive matches away from home, the Northern Illinois University men's tennis team returns to DeKalb on Wednesday, April 12, as the Huskies host Binghamton at 2 p.m., at the West Tennis Courts. 

"We haven't played at home, outside in a long time, so anytime we can be on campus that is great for our guys," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "This is a big match, we really need to do well tomorrow if we want to have a shot (to reach the MAC Tournament)."

NIU (12-9, 1-3 MAC) is coming off a 5-2 setback at Toledo this past Saturday (April 8), junior Louis-Philippe Hamel (Drummondville, Quebec, Canada) and senior Carlos Manzanas (Madrid, Spain/IES Principe Felipe) earned singles victories against the Rockets.

Hamel is one of three Huskies with 10-or-more dual match victories this spring; junior Georg Lundkvist (Linkoping, Sweden/Lindkopings Kommun) has a team-high 11 while junior Tom Hjertonsson (Gothenburg, Sweden/Akademi Båstad Gymnasium) and Hamel each have 10. 

Binghamton comes to DeKalb with a 5-13 overall record, 0-3 in Mid-American Conference play. The Bearcats dropped a narrow 4-3 decision on Monday (April 10) at Western Michigan. Kushaan Nath has a team-high 20 total victories this season, including a 9-6 dual match record. 

The Huskies and Bearcats have met once this season, a 4-3 NIU victory in Binghamton (March 19). In that first meeting, NIU took the doubles point and had wins from Lundkvist, Hjertonsson and Hamel in singles to claim the victory. 

Following tomorrow's match, the Huskies will be back in action at home on Sunday, April 16, when they host Western Michigan.