RIVER FOREST, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team opened the season this weekend at the River Forest Collegiate Invitational. Christopher Norlin (Stockholm, Sweden) and Iker Gaztambide Arrastia (Pamplona, Spain) won the flight one doubles titles while two singles competitors, Norlin and Saul Berdullas (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) were still undefeated before the tournament's final round was rained out.  

"This was a great weekend for us," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "Really happy for Iker and Chris, these guys played some great doubles winning the number one. Chris and Saul were in the finals of their singles flight before the weather didn't allow us to finish. Really exciting and happy to see new guys Luke (Welker), Saul and Sam (Klein) get their first college victories. Overall, we have a lot of work to do and I know we are ready to get out and improve."

In flight five, Berdullas won his first-round matchup, 6-0, 6-0 over UIC's Artem Iermolov. In his semifinal he won 6-0 6-2 against Henri Ohi of Washington University. In flight three, Norlin won his opening match, 6-4, 6-2, over Colin Fox of Washington University. He took down Western Michigan's Matej Kajzer 7-6, 7-5 in the semifinals. 

Norlin and Gaztambide Arrastia dropped just four total games while winning the number one doubles crown. The Huskie duo opened with a 6-1 victory over Illinois State's Emiliano Gonzales and Tin Ostro. They then scored another 6-1 win against Ferdinand Schlueter and Kajzer of Western Michigan. In the final, NIU was victorious, 6-2, against Pedro Alvarez and Max Sandoval from Chicago State. 

Gaztambide Arrastia advanced to the third-place match in number one singles before the competition was rained out. Armin Koschtojan (Halle, Germany) and Sam Klein (Elm Grove, Wis.) won a pair of matches at number two doubles, claiming fifth place while Berdullas and Luke Welker (Elgin, Ill.) took fourth in flight three.