ROCKFORD – The Northern Illinois men's tennis team captured the decisive doubles point for the first time this season, and recorded four wins in singles play en route to a convincing 5-2 win over visiting Eastern Illinois at Clocktower Resort in Rockford on Friday evening.
"It was a great win for us tonight," said NIU coach Patrick Fisher. "We won our first doubles point, held off Eastern's rally in singles, and then took control of the match. We won four-of our first matches in singles, and we were in position to win all three doubles matches. There's something to be said for that, because that's been our biggest weakness this season, finding some consistency in doubles.
"The challenge for us now is continuing to get better. We play Southern Illinois in our next match, and they are a team that has been at the top of the Missouri Valley Conference. This was a nice match to build on going forward."
Stepping to the court with the same doubles lineup for the second-consecutive outing, the Huskies recorded regulation pro-set wins at both the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles positions, securing the decisive doubles point. Mikhail Titov and Roman Turtygin teamed at the top doubles position to post an 8-3 win over Eastern Illinois' Warren Race and Michael Sperry, followed by an 8-6 victory by Maxsym Bartiuk and Javier Bernabe at No. 2.
The Huskies' No. 3 doubles tandem of Maximillian Phillips and Greg Czajkowski dropped an extra-session, 9-8 (8-6) decision to the Panthers' Justin Haag and Vance Davis at No. 3 doubles.
NIU continued the momentum in singles play, recording wins at the top three flights. Bartiuk recorded a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Eastern Illinois' Jeff Rutherford at No. 1 singles. At the No. 2 position, Titov defeated Matyas Hilgert in straight sets (6-3, 6-2), followed by a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win by Bernabe over the Panthers' Jamie Firth at the third singles slot. Phillips also defeated EIU's Michael Sperry at No. 5, 6-1, 7-5.
