Oct. 3, 2008

Muncie, Ind. - The Northern Illinois men's tennis team started the Ball State Invitational very strongly as the Huskies came out on top in every singles match to set up four quarterfinals matches for tomorrow.

"The Huskies had a good day today with all players advancing to the quarterfinals in their flights," said NIU head coach Pawel Gajdzik. "The day was highlighted by Matt Hansen beating the number one players for Purdue and Xavier.

"Everybody played tough with a lot of heart. One of the goals for the first day was to be in the main draw on Saturday and we accomplished that. The competition is not over yet as we will start doubles play late tomorrow night."

In Flight A, Huskie sophomore Matt Hansen (Topeka, Kan./Miami Online (Fla.)) took down Purdue's Bijelica Slavko, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to advance to the second round where he defeated Xavier's Ismail Raees, 6-3, 6-1.

In Flight B, NIU junior Javier Bernabe (Segovia, Spain/IES Mariano Quintanilla) beat Butler's Bayliss Brandon, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (6) and in the second round won against Ball State's Zane Smith, 6-4, 6-2.

In Flight C, Huskie senior Alfonso Monroy was victorious over IUPUI's Dechow Ej, 6-3, 6-1 and then beat Detroit Mercy's Nick Tolomei, 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (8) in the second round.

In Flight D, NIU freshman Ross VanderPloeg (Holland, Mich./West Ottawa) won his only match of the day against IPFW's David Lynall, 6-0, 6-1.

The Huskies will continue singles play tomorrow and begin doubles action as well.