Feb. 21, 2013

DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois plays its second - and final - home match of February on Friday when the Huskies welcome Chicago State to its indoor home at Rockford Boylan High School. NIU, which is coming off five straight road matches, and Chicago State will battle beginning at 4:30 p.m. with the doubles competition.

NIU is 8-1 on the season and has won five straight matches since suffering a 6-1 loss to Southern Illinois in its last home outing on Feb. 3. The Huskies are led by No. 1 player Nelle Youel (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central HS), who is undefeated in both singles and doubles this year. Mary Malkin's (Tel Aviv, Israel/Alliance) singles slate almost matches Youel's perfect record as she is 8-1 at the No. 4 spot for head coach Ryun Ferrell.

In its last four matches, Northern Illinois has a pair of 7-0 wins and two 6-1 victories. The Huskies have won the doubles point in seven of their nine matches as Youel and Arantza De La Torre (San Luis Potosi, Mexico) are undefeated at No. 1 doubles, while Stephanie McDonald (Harare, Zimbabwe) and Haley Dekkinga (Allegan, Mich./Allegan HS) have forged a 5-2 mark at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots.

Chicago State comes into Friday's match with a 3-8 record this spring. The Cougars went 1-2 last weekend in Ft. Wayne, Ind. as they defeated Robert Morris (Pa.) 6-1 before losing to IPFW and Youngstown State by 7-0 scores.

Admission to the NIU tennis matches at the Boylan Tennis Courts is free. Following Friday's match, the Huskies travel to Des Moines, Iowa for three matches March 2-3.

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