Men's Tennis | March 19
DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team downed Buffalo, 4-3, at home on Thursday evening. Senior
Federico Scotuzzi clinched the match with a three-set victory at No. 4 in a match that lasted just over three hours to put away defending conference champions.
"We're really proud of the guys' effort, especially after the last two matches with those close 4-3 losses, but we bounced back," said head coach René Vidal. "The guys really showed their resilience and their commitment to the vision that we have for our program. Great win for the Huskies."
NIU held a 3-1 lead with three courts up for grabs. Scotuzzi (Bergamo, Italy / North Alabama) took the first set against Minjae Kim 7-6, but dropped the second 2-6. Kim led 5-4 in the final set, but the senior fought back to win 7-6 in a tiebreaker to seal the match for the Huskies.
"As soon as we started doubles, I could tell he had a good serve and was very solid," Scotuzzi said. "He was fighting every point so I knew in singles it was going to be a big fight and it turned out to be one. I think it came down to who wanted it more."
Buffalo struck first by taking the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3. NIU responded by sweeping the top three courts in singles.
"Our message to the team after doubles was we've been here before, because against Western Michigan, we also lost the doubles point," said Vidal. "We showed how we can bounce back from a setback, turn things around and get the victory … they responded extremely well."
No. 63
Iker Gaztambide Arrastia (Pamplona, Spain / Jesuitas) recorded the first win in singles, defeating Clement Mainguy 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2.
Nikola Puntaric (Ljubljana, Slovenia / Tulsa) followed that with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Theodoris Mitsakos on the top court.
Lorenzo Leti Messina (Rome, Italy / North Florida) secured a hard fought 7-5, 7-6 win at No. 3 to setup Scotuzzi to close out the Bulls.
NIU will host Toledo on Saturday for an 11 a.m. match at Rochelle High School (1401 E Flagg Rd, Rochelle, IL 61068).
