April 15, 2012

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois men’s tennis team defeated conference foe Toledo, 5-2, Saturday afternoon, improving the Huskies to 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference and 19-6 overall. NIU will take on Buffalo tomorrow afternoon for the MAC Championship.

"Today we played good enough to win, but we will need to play much better tomorrow against a great Buffalo team,” said Head Coach Patrick Fisher. “Today we won the doubles point, and then in singles, Toledo made a run at us, but our guy's hung in there and we got the result we wanted.”

The Huskies made a clean sweep in doubles as they won at Nos. 1-3, including a pair of 8-5 wins by Dor Amir and Axel Laferlof at No. 1, and Maksym Bartiuk and Roman Turtygin at No. 2. At the No. 3 doubles position, Frederic Cadieux and Maximilian Phillips grinded their victory with a score of 9-8.

In singles action NIU claimed victory at Nos. 2-5, including three set victories by Turtygin at No. 2 (3-6, 6-3, 7-5) and Lagerlof at No. 3 (4-6, 6-1, 6-4). Bartiuk had a strong performance at No. 4 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Terence Weigand and Cadieux closed the Huskies winning on the day at No. 5 with a 7-5, 6-1 score.

Northern Illinois will take on Buffalo tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., with a claim of the Mid-American Conference Regular Season title on the line, with NIU seeking its first MAC Championship. Each team is undefeated at 3-0 in conference play.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS 5, TOLEDO 2
NIU Tennis Courts
DeKalb, Ill.

DOUBLES:
1. Amir/Lagerlof (NIU) def. Sarria/Stillman (UT) 8-5
2. Bartiuk/Turtygin (NIU) def. Adams/Dudzik (UT) 8-5
3. Cadieux/Phillips (NIU) def. Wong/Cona (UT) 9-8

SINGLES:
1. Tomas Stillman (UT) def. Dor Amir (NIU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Roman Turtygin (NIU) def. Leo Sarria (UT) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
3. Axel Lagerlof (NIU) def. Nicholas Wong (UT) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
4. Maksym Bartiuk (NIU) def. Terence Weigand (UT) 6-3, 6-1
5. Frederic Cadieux (NIU) def. Grant Adams (UT) 7-5, 6-1
6. Bryant Dudzik (UT) def. Maximilian Phillips (NIU) 6-3, 6-2