Feb. 5, 2010

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MILWAUKEE - The Northern Illinois women's tennis team dropped a 7-0 decision at Marquette Friday afternoon in the first of two matches in Wisconsin this weekend.

"The kids are starting to find their way," said NIU head coach Ryun Ferrell. "We put them in the deep end of the pool with the schedule we have played early in the season, but I'm confident it will pay off as we go forward. Marquette had a lot of depth, with players that played higher in the lineup last season moving down a bit. That made for a bit of a long day for us.

"We play Green Bay tomorrow, and I'm hoping the ball slows down for us a little bit. We've got our doubles and singles lineups set, so now it's about developing some consistency as we get closer to conference play."

The Golden Eagles captured the doubles point, winning three-straight regulation pro-set decisions. The Huskies lined up a new doubles look that went as follows: Brooke Forsberg and Emily Rogers at No. 1, Kathryn Friedlund and Sara McLaughlin at the second slot and Brittni Fausett and Kelly Phillips at No. 3.

In singles play, the Huskies received strong performances from Rogers and Fausett at the respective No. 3 and No. 4 positions. Rogers dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision versus Marquette's Kelly Barry, while Fausett battled the Golden Eagles' Gillian Hush to a 6-4, 6-1 setback. Marquette's top singles player, Paola Calderon, posted a 6-2, 6-1 win over Friedlund.

Northern Illinois will take on host Green Bay Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.