March 14, 2012

ORLANDO, Fla. - Northern Illinois men's tennis continued its spring trip in Florida, advancing to 4-0 in the Citrus State when it defeated Youngstown State, 7-0, and Bucknell, 6-1. The Huskies improved to 14-5 on the season and only lost one singles point against each opponent.

"Today turned out to be a great day for Huskie Tennis, but the morning doubles was the worst I have seen this entire year," said Head Coach Patrick Fisher. "We came out lethargic and we were terrible to put it simply, but we turned our whole day around completely and we went on to be 14-1 the rest of the day."

NIU opened its stay in Orlando with a pair of 6-1 victories over North Carolina Central and Quinnipiac Monday to boost its record to 12-5 and give Fisher his highest-win total as the Huskies head man.

On Tuesday, Northern Illinois started the day against the Penguins and made a clean sweep in singles and doubles. It wasn't easy for the Huskies as Roman Turtygin, playing at No. 1 singles, lost his first set, 7-5, but rallied back in the second and third set, 6-1, 6-4, to claim victory.

Like Turtygin, freshman Dor Amir also went three sets, but grinded out the win, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. At No. 3, Axel Lagerlof made short work of his opponent Max Schmerin, 6-1, 6-0.

Against the Bison, NIU's Nos. 1 and 2 doubles pair of Amir and Lagerlof and Maksym Lagutin and Turtygin, respectively, clinched the early point for the Huskies.  Frederic Cadieux won his match at No. 5 singles with an impressive 6-2, 6-3 score and Maximilian Phillips grinded out his first set, 7-5, at No. 6 and went on to finish strong in the second, 6-0.

The Huskies captured their 14th win of 2012, the most-ever under Fisher and the most by the Northern Illinois men's team since 2004.

Fisher concluded "We are sunburnt, tired and sore, but were going to get out there and keep training and look to improve our fitness and our games. "We don't feel like we are where we want to be yet, but we're getting there week by week."

For future updates on men's tennis, visit NIUHuskies.com.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS 7, YOUNGSTOWN STATE 0
March 13, 2012
Orlando, Fla.

DOUBLES
1. Lagerlof/Amir (NIU) def. T. Ismail/Kabli (YSU) 9-7
2. Lagutin/Turtygin (NIU) def. Schmerin/Kabli (YSU) 8-6
3. Phillps/Cadieux (NIU) def. Z. Ismail/Mistreanu (YSU) 8-3

SINGLES
1. Roman Turtygin (NIU) def. Tariq Ismail (YSU) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
2. Dor Amir (NIU) def. Silviu Mistreanu (YSU) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
3. Axel Lagerlof (NIU) def. Max Schmerin (YSU) 6-1, 6-0
4. Frederic Cadieux (NIU) def. Dawoud Kabli (YSU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
5. Maximilian Phillips (NIU) def. Zeeshan Ismail (YSU) 7-6, 6-4
6. Maksym Bartiuk (NIU) def. Rodrigo Campos (YSU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4

NORTHERN ILLINOIS 6, BUCKNELL 1
March 13, 2011
Orlando, Fla.

Doubles 

1. Amir/Lagerlof (NIU) def. Zimmer/Cohenca (BU), 8-5 

2. Turtygin/Lagutin (NIU) def. Bernstein/Canibe (BU), 8-6
3. Katten/Morque (BU) def. Phillips/Cadieux (NIU)  8-4

SINGLES
1. Roman Turtygin (NIU) def. Gregg Cohenca (BU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 

2. Dor Amir (NIU) def. Evan Zimmer (BU) 6-4, 7-5 

3. Axel Lagerlof (NIU) def. Octavio Canibe (BU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 

4. Josh Katten (BU) def. Maksym Lagutin (NIU) 6-0, 6-3 

5. Frederic Cadieux (NIU) def. Kyle Rosen (BU) 6-2, 6-3 

6. Maximilian Phillips (NIU) def. Gregory Maxson (BU) 7-5, 6-0