March 4, 2012

MADISON, Wis. – Junior Mikhail Titov was the lone victor for the Northern Illinois men’s tennis team as the Huskies fell at Wisconsin, 6-1. The Huskies are 10-4 this season, with three of their losses occurring on the road.

“We don’t feel good about this one today. We’re not finishing well and to win championships, we need to be tougher,” said Head Coach Patrick Fisher after the match, “Like I said yesterday, to win a championship, you can’t just play good one day and not show up the next day. We had our chances in the first set and in the second set, we just started to make poor decisions in some key matches.”

Titov came up the Huskies lone point at No. 5 singles, defeating Quinton Vega, 6-2, 7-5, to finish his weekend 3-1 overall. In doubles Titov lost at No. 2 with partner Maximilian Phillips, 8-4.

At No. 1 doubles, Dor Amir and Axel Lagerlof sent their match to a tiebreaker set with the score knotted, 8-8, but the Huskie duo fell in the tiebreaker, 7-1. Lagerlof played a close one in singles at No. 2, taking his match to a third set tiebreaker and falling, 7-6 (7-1), 1-6, 10-7. Amir did the same at No. 1, taking his first set, 6-3, but falling in the next two, 6-1, 6-1.

Northern Illinois is now 10-4 this season and will return to action March 9 as the Huskies host Brown at Boylan Tennis Center.

WISCONSIN 6, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 1
Madison, Wis.

DOUBLES
1. Ask/Billy Bertha (UW) def. Amir/Lagerlof (NIU) 9-8 (7-1)
2. Vega/Kostanov (UW) def. Phillips/Titov (NIU) 8-4
3. Carey/Robles (UW) def. Turtygin/Cadieux (NIU) 8-4

Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

SINGLES
1. Fredrik Ask (UW) def. Dor Amir (NIU) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
2. Alexander Kostanov (UW) def. Axel Lagerlof (NIU) 7-6 (7-1), 1-6, 10-7
3. Rod Carey (UW) def. Roman Turtygin (NIU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Billy Bertha (UW) def. Frederic Cadieux (NIU) 6-4, 6-3
5. Mikhail Titov (NIU) def. Quinton Vega (UW) 6-2, 7-5
6. Andy Quirk (UW) def. Maximilian Phillips (NIU) 6-2, 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 6, 4, 2, 1, 5