Women's Tennis | February 5

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's tennis team begins its February with a pair of doubleheaders this coming weekend. The Huskies will first travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa on Friday to take on North Dakota and Northern Iowa and return home to host Milwaukee and Judson on Sunday.

NIU (5-2) split last weekend's matches, defeating Butler 5-2 and falling 6-1 to Minnesota. The Huskies two losses this season have come at the hands of Big Ten teams in the Gophers and Wisconsin.

Against Butler, NIU posted four wins in singles. Irmak Budak recorded a singles win in the match against Minnesota while Malika Kabdesh / Nataly Ninova notched a win at No. 1 doubles. The wins were the second over a power four conference opponent this season for each after Budak and Kabdesh / Ninova won their matches against Missouri.

NIU has earned Mid-American Conference Player of the Week honors for three consecutive weeks. Budak is the latest as the sophomore was named MAC Singles Player of the Week following a 2-0 weekend at No. 1.

The Opponents
North Dakota (2-4) has wins over Marquette and Drake this season and are coming off a narrow 4-3 loss to Augustana on Monday, Feb. 2. Ethel Li is 4-2 at No. 1 singles and 4-2 in doubles with Jule Schulte.

Northern Iowa (1-2) will host both NIU and North Dakota this weekend. The Panthers split their matches against Lindenwood and SIUE, defeating Lindenwood 4-3 on Friday, Jan. 30.

Milwaukee (0-2) and Judson (0-1) will face the Huskies on Sunday. NIU plays Milwaukee on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. and closes the weekend out with a 6 p.m. match against Judson.