April 30, 2012

TOLEDO, Ohio - Junior Maksym Bartiuk was named to the Mid-American Conference's All-Tournament team, announced after Saturday's championship match that saw Western Michigan defeat Buffalo, 4-0.

Bartiuk, a native of the Ukraine, finished the weekend 1-0 for Northern Illinois against WMU, winning at  No. 4 singles. Bartiuk clinched his win at No. 4 in singles with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over former Huskie Ross VanderPloeg. In doubles his partner Roman Turtygin and he were leading at No. 2 against the Broncos pair of Pablo Olivarez and Aaron Wong but the match was unfinished as Western Michigan clinched the doubles point. The NIU pair was leading in the match, 6-3.

This spring Bartiuk finished with a dual record of 9-3 in singles and a doubles record of 8-9. He missed over a month of the season due to injury and returned March 13 against Youngstown State won eight of his last nine matches of the season.

Northern Illinois finished with its best record since 1989 with a 21-7 overall record and was the MAC's co-Regular Season Champion with a 4-1 conference record. It was the first-ever Mid-American Conference Championship and program's first conference championship since 1997.