DEKALB, Ill. -- After opening league play with a pair of home wins last weekend, the Northern Illinois University men's tennis team will head on the road for the first time in Mid-American Conference play on Friday, March 23, as the Huskies visit Western Michigan. 

NIU (12-5, 2-0) is coming off a 6-1 win over Binghamton (March 16) and a 5-2 victory over Ball State (March 18) to begin conference action. The Huskies claimed 10 of 12 singles matches last weekend, as freshman Kristopher Ortega (Homer Glen, Ill./Seton Home Study School), senior Eric Marbach (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley), senior Louis-Philippe Hamel (Drummondville, Quebec, Canada) and sophomore Bor Schweiger Muzar (Crnomelj, Slovenia/Gimnm) each swept their two matches. 

Ortega earned MAC Player of the Week honors after his two victories at number one against the Bearcats and Cardinals. The Homer Glen, Ill., native is 11-4 in dual matches, including 5-1 playing at number one, and has won four-straight matches. 

Hamel and senior Tom Hjertonsson (Gothenburg, Sweden/Akademi Båstad Gymnasium) are both just behind Ortega with 10 dual match wins. 

In doubles, Ortega and Marbach swept their two matches last weekend and are currently 7-4 in dual matches. Senior Georg Lundkvist (Linkoping, Sweden/Lindkopings Kommun) and Muzar have a team-high nine dual match wins as a doubles team this season. 

Western Michigan is also 2-0 in MAC play, after opening with wins over Toledo and Buffalo, and has a 13-4 overall record. Maik Steiner is ranked 123rd in this week's Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings; Steiner has a 22-9 overall record, including a 9-5 mark in dual matches.

The Broncos are a perfect 7-0 at home this season and won the only meeting between the two school last season, 6-1, in DeKalb (April 16, 2017). 

Following the trip to Kalamazoo, the Huskies will return home on Saturday, March 31, as the Huskies host Ball State.