AURORA, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's tennis team claimed the doubles point and split the singles matches to earn a 4-3 victory over Green Bay on Friday afternoon at the Vaughn Tennis Center. With the win, the Huskies improve to 4-2 on the season. 

"We won a tight match and we are playing better doubles," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "But the way in which we are competing is like riding a roller coaster, way too many ups and downs, we need more consistency over a longer period of time and that is hurting us. 

"We again were up in sets and in control of matches that we had a hard time closing out. We are not doing a good job of throwing down the hammer. Tomorrow we will get two opportunities to do it and I expect us to play with a much more stubborn mentality to finish sets and matches when we have chances."

NIU claimed a pair of 6-4 wins at number two and three to earn the doubles point. Senior Carlos Manzanas (Madrid, Spain/IES Principe Felipe) and freshman Bor Schweiger Muzar (Crnomelj, Slovenia/Gimnm) won at number two while junior Louis-Philippe Hamel (Drummondville, Quebec, Canada) and junior Tom Hjertonsson (Gothenburg, Sweden/Akademi Båstad Gymnasium) were victorious at number three. 

In the singles, Green Bay won in straight sets at number one and two, while Manzanas was a straight sets winner, 6-0, 7-5, over Charlie Ridout at number five for NIU. 

Each of the remaining three matches went to three sets, Joshua Schramm earned a third singles win for the Phoenix at number three, but NIU clinched the match win with victories at four and six. Hjertonsson earned his fourth consecutive singles victory with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 win over Miles McDowall while Hamel closed out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 comeback win over Ivan Radomirovic.

The Huskies will return to the courts tomorrow, Feb 4, as they host Wisconsin-Whitewater at 1 p.m., and Cardinal Stritch at 5 p.m., both of those matches will be held at Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford. 


NIU 4, Green Bay 3

Singles
1. Florian Kraenzler (UWGB) def. Georg Lundkvist (NIU), 7-6, 6-1
2. Matej Kostadinov (UWGB) def. Bor Schweiger Muzar (NIU), 6-3, 6-2
3. Joshua Schramm (UWGB) def. Eric Marbach (NIU), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
4. Tom Hjertonsson (NIU) def. Miles McDowall (UWGB), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
5. Carlos Manzanas (NIU) def. Charlie Ridout (UWGB), 6-0, 7-5
6. Louis-Philippe Hamel (NIU) def. Ivan Radomirovic (UWGB), 4-6, 6-2, 6-0

Doubles
1. Marbach/Lundkvist vs. McDowall/Kostadinov (UWGB), 5-5, unfinished
2. Manzanas/Muzar def. Kraenzler/Ridout (UWGB), 6-4
3. Hamel/Hjertonsson def. Schramm/Radomirovic (UWGB), 6-4