DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team returns to action this weekend as it opens Mid-American Conference play against Binghamton and Ball State. The Huskies will host Binghamton on Friday, March 16, and Ball State on Sunday, March 18, both matches will take place at Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford.
NIU is returning to action for the first time since March 3 when the Huskies dropped a 4-1 decision at Nebraska as NIU split a weekend that also included a 6-1 victory over Creighton (March 2). Freshman
Kristopher Ortega (Homer Glen, Ill./Seton Home Study School) and senior
Tom Hjertonsson (Gothenburg, Sweden/Akademi Båstad Gymnasium) each have nine dual match wins for the Huskies as they open their league slate. Ortega's nine victories include his most recent three wins playing at number one.
In doubles action, senior
Georg Lundkvist (Linkoping, Sweden/Lindkopings Kommun) and sophomore
Bor Schweiger Muzar (Crnomelj, Slovenia/Gimnm) have a team-best 9-5 dual match record.
Binghamton, an affiliate member of the MAC, heads west for the opening weekend of league play with a 3-10 overall record. Like the Huskies, the Bearcats have not played in two weeks, falling last time out at NJIT, 6-1, on March 4. Valentin Bouchet is leading the way for Binghamton with a 7-2 record in dual matches.
Last season, the Huskies swept a pair of matches against the Bearcats, winning 4-3 in Binghamton (March 19, 2017) and 5-2 in DeKalb (April 12, 2017).
Ball State will open league play against Binghamton on Saturday, March 17, in Rockford before facing NIU on Sunday. The Cardinals bring a 10-4 record into the weekend after dropping a pair of matches in Las Vegas last week to UNLV, 4-0, and Montana, 4-3. Bryce Bonin leads Ball State in wins with a 14-6 overall record, including 8-3 in dual matches.
The Huskies and Cardinals met just once in the regular season last year, a narrow 4-3 Ball State victory in Muncie (April 1, 2017).
Following this weekend's matches, the Huskies will hit the road for the first time in conference play as they travel to Western Michigan on Friday, March 23, to meet the Broncos.
