April 28, 2008

Cleveland, Ohio - The Mid-American Conference announced on Monday that Northern Illinois junior Brian Livingston (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) has been named the 2008 MAC Men's Tennis Player of the Year.

Livingston, the first Huskie to win the award since Willy Gali (2005), finished the season with a singles mark of 24-6 and paired up with Adam Ford (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) at No. 1 doubles, for a record of 20-8. During the spring, Livingston won 17 of 19 matches in dual meet competition.

"It's extremely difficult to have a season like that and lose so few matches with the schedule that we play," Hiort continued. "I'm really happy for him."

Livingston was able to avenge one of his dual meet losses this past weekend at the MAC Men's Tennis Championships, as the Skokie, Illinois native defeated fellow first-team All-MAC selection, Kevin Hayward (Western Michigan), 6-0, 6-4. For his efforts, Livingston was named to the MAC All-Tournament team.

Joining Livingston on the All-MAC First Team is senior Alex Friesen (Vancouver, B.C./Burnaby Central). Friesen led the Huskies with 25 victories at No. 2 singles, and teamed up with Jimmy Chu (Lima, Peru/San Augustin) to finish with a mark of 22-6 at No. 2 doubles.

Friesen and Chu won 13 matches in a row during the spring, which was the longest streak in longest in Huskie history since NIU's Pete Burkhart and Jeff D'Adamo won all 20 of their matches in the spring of 1981.

Alex Friesen

Friesen was also the recipient of the Jack Vredevelt Sportsmanship Award, marking the third time in the last five years that a Huskie has won this award. Gali captured the award in 2005.

"I don't think it could have gone to a better representative of our institution, men's tennis and the MAC in general," Hiort said of Friesen. "Alex has been a tremendous sportsman and competitor who has done things the right way."

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