April 7, 2008

Northern Illinois senior Alex Friesen and junior Jimmy Chu may be the No. 2 doubles team for the Huskie men's tennis squad, but the tandem sure is playing like they are No. 1.

In fact, Friesen and Chu are undefeated during the spring season, having won all 13 of their matches - the longest streak in Huskie history since NIU's Pete Burkhart and Jeff D'Adamo won all 20 of their matches in the spring of 1981.  For the season, the duo is 18-4 overall.

Both Friesen and Chu downplay the streak and just look for continued success.

"It feels good," Friesen said. "We hope we keep winning."

"We've been starting with intensity," Chu said. "That's been helping us a lot, a good start from the get go."

NIU head men's tennis coach Pontus Hiort commends Friesen and Chu's approach to each match during their winning streak.

"Alex and Jimmy do a good job coming out every day and treating each new match as a separate entity," Hiort said.

The ball started rolling for Chu and Friesen last fall, as the duo finished among the final 16 at the ITA Midwest Region IV Tournament at Minnesota, highlighted by a 9-7 win over Michigan's Balazs Novak and Dominic Ozanne.

Chu and Friesen, who began teaming up last season, faced many quality opponents during that tournament and knew that they proved to be a formidable pair.

"We were playing pretty good last spring and at Regionals when we beat Michigan (we started to click)," Chu said. "I think it all started there and that helped increase our confidence."

Hiort has noticed an extra spring in their step since the Regional Tournament.

Jimmy Chu

"They figured out in order to be successful, you need to play with a high level of energy," Hiort said. "Doubles (play) is a lot about speed.

"You need to make sure that you're more aggressive than your opponents," Hiort continued. "That's something they've really excelled at lately."

Friesen believes that he and Chu's ability to hold serve has been the key to their streak.

"We haven't got broken once this spring," Friesen said. "We've been holding serve really easily.

"We haven't really had a lot of close matches and just played pretty well overall."

Both Friesen and Chu bring something different to the court each day, as Friesen provides the power, while Chu adds the finesse.

"Alex has a more powerful game," Hiort said. "Jimmy complements him by good returning and good net play."

While Friesen and Chu continue to go about their business, Hiort knows that the streak and their performance at the Regionals has done wonders for their confidence.

"It proved to those guys that they could compete at a very high level," Hiort said. "They can compete with anybody."