DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team head to Kalamazoo, Mich., for the Mid-American Conference Championship this Saturday and Sunday, April 23-24. The fourth-seeded Huskies face top-seeded Western Michigan in the first semifinal on Saturday at 9 a.m. CT.
NIU travels to the conference tournament with an 11-10 overall record, including a 5-5 mark in MAC play.
Oliver Valentinsson and Michael Vollbach each have 14-5 records to lead the way for the Huskies, with Vollbach posting an 8-2 record in conference duals. In doubles, the team of Valentinsson and
Kristopher Ortega has a team-best mark of 8-4 in dual matches, with a 3-2 conference record.
Saturday's semifinal will be a rematch of the final conference match of the season when the Broncos topped the Huskies, 5-2 in DeKalb (April 16). Vollbach and
Mikko Malinen each won their singles matches last time out against Western Michigan while Valentinsson and Ortega won their doubles match, 6-0.
This season's MAC Tournament is the first since 2019, when Western Michigan edged the Huskies, 4-3, in the tournament final. The 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID and the conference did not host a tournament last season.
Western Michigan brings a 13-8 record into the weekend, including a 9-1 record in conference play as the Broncos claimed the MAC regular season crown. Brogan Pierce has a team-high 13 dual match wins for the Broncos, while Anton Arzhankin, Arjun Honnappa and Peter Kuszynski each have 11 singles wins for Western Michigan.
In the second semifinal, second-seeded Toledo will face third-seeded Ball State, at approximately 1 p.m. CT, following the NIU-Western Michigan match. The Rockets enter the conference tournament with a 14-8 overall record, 7-3 in league play, while Ball State is 10-10 overall, 5-5 in conference.
The two semifinal winners will meet on Sunday, April 24 at 12 p.m. CT for the MAC Championship and its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. All matches are scheduled for the Sorensen Courts at Western Michigan or indoors at West Hills Athletic Club, depending on the weather.
