Men's Tennis | February 16

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team defeated Youngstown State 5-2 in Friday's dual against Youngstown State. The win marked head coach René Vidal's first win at NIU.

Friday's dual was very competitive with three of the six singles matches going to a third set.

"Coach Shao and I are really proud of the way our guys fought back today," Vidal said. "We have a lot of areas to improve but we're moving in the right direction."

NIU (7-2) dropped the first point to Youngstown State (3-5) who took two of the three doubles matches before bouncing back on Friday.

Christopher Norlin (Stockholm, Sweden) and Iker Gaztambide Arrastia (Pamplona, Spain) won their doubles match 6-2 at No. 3 doubles.

The Huskies took five of the six singles matches to seal the victory.

Norlin got the Huskies their first point with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles over Asier Pena Ibanez.

Saul Berdullas (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) won in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 at No. 3 singles to even the dual at 2-2.

Cheng En Tsai (Taipei, Taiwan) pushed the Huskies to three points with a win in the third set. Tsai lost the first set but was able to come back and take the match 0-6, 6-2, 7-6 at No. 1 singles.

At No. 2 singles Mikael Vollbach (Rothis, Austria) clinched the dual victory for the Huskies with his 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 win over Nishant Dibas.

The Huskies will return to the court at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17 against Xavier.  The match will be played in Youngstown.

NIU Huskies 5, Youngstown State 2
 

Singles competition

1. Cheng En Tsai (NIU-M) def. Nathan Favier (YSU) 0-6, 6-2, 7-6

2. Mikael Vollbach (NIU-M) def. Nishant Dabas (YSU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6

3. Saul Berdullas (NIU-M) def. William Rassat (YSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

4. Onder Balci (YSU) def. Iker Gaztambide (NIU-M) 6-4, 6-3

5. Armin Koschtojan (NIU-M) def. Charalampos Fouzas (YSU) 6-4, 6-7, 2-1, retired

6. Christopher Norlin (NIU-M) def. Asier Pena Ibanez (YSU) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. Nishant Dabas/Onder Balci (YSU) def. Cheng En Tsai/Mikael Vollbach (NIU-M) 7-6 (7-2)

2. Charalampos Fouzas/Nathan Favier (YSU) def. Armin Koschtojan/Saul Berdullas (NIU-M) 6-4

3. Christopher Norlin/Iker Gaztambide (NIU-M) def. Asier Pena Ibanez/William Rassat (YSU) 6-2

Match Notes:

NIU Huskies 7-2

Youngstown State 3-5

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,6,3,1,2,5)

-- NIU --