Men's Tennis | January 13

STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team defeated the Chattanooga Mocs on Saturday in their first dual of the season by a score of 5-2. Mississippi State hosted the dual in Starkville, Mississippi.   

NIU (1-0) took the opening point over Chattanooga (0-1) by winning all three doubles matches. The Huskies then won four of the six singles matches to earn four more points and a season-opening victory.  

Seniors Cheng En Tsai (Abraham Baldwin College / Taipei, Taiwan) and Mikael Vollbach (Rothis, Austria) won their match at No. 1 doubles against Peyton Gatti and Jakob Jupa of UTC, 6-4.  

Sophomores Iker Gaztambide Arrastia (Pamplona, Spain) and Christopher Norlin (Stockholm, Sweden) also picked up a 6-4 win, besting UTC's Cortland Grove and Kristof Kinsces in the No. 2 spot.  

At No. 3 doubles, Saul Berdullas (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) and Armin Koschtojan [Halle (Saale), Germany] defeated the Mocs' Gabriel Castillo and Jordan McClure, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles.  

In singles, the Huskies won four of the six matches to get to five points and clinch the victory.  

Koschjotan got the Huskies' singles run started with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Peyton Gatti at No. 6 singles, while Gaztambide Arrastia won his match in two sets comfortably against Grove, 6-3, 6-2 to put NIU up 3-0. 

The Huskies got the match clinching fourth point as Berdullas won at No. 5 singles, 6-4, 7-5. At No. 2 singles, Tsai dropped his first set 6-4 before bouncing back in set two and winning 7-5. He then won the third set 1-0, with a 10-3 score in the tiebreaker to provide NIU's fifth point.  

The Huskies will take on Mississippi State Sunday at the Rula Tennis Pavilion in Starkville with a start time of 10 a.m. Live Streaming of the Match is available here.  

Singles
1. Gabriel Castillo (UTC) def.Mikael Vollbach (NIU), 6-4, 6-4
2. Cheng En Tsai (NIU) def. Jakob Jupa (UTC), 4-6, 5-7, 1-0 (10-3)
3. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia (NIU) def. Cortland Grove (UTC), 6-3,6-2
4. Jordan McClure (UTC) def. Christopher Norlin (NIU), 0-6, 6-2, 4-6
5. Saul Berdullas (NIU) def. Kristoff Kincses (UTC), 6-4, 7-5
6. Armin Koschtojan (NIU) def. Peyton Gatti (UTC), 6-1, 6-3
 
Doubles
1. Cheng En Tsai/Mikael Vollbach (NIU) def. Peyton Gatti/Jakob Jupa (UTC), 6-4
2. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia/Christopher Norlin (NIU) def. Cortland Grove/Kriston Kincses (UTC), 6-4
3. Saul Berdullas/Armin Koschtojan (NIU) def. Gabriel Castillo/Jordan McClure (UTC), 6-2 


-- NIU --