TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's tennis team saw its home winning streak snapped on Friday afternoon with a 4-3 defeat to Northern Illinois at Shadow Valley Tennis Club.
"A tiebreaker decider for the doubles point and five-of-six singles matches went to three-sets," head coach
Al Wermer said. "That explains how intense this match was."
Northern Illinois started fast in doubles play, winning the No. 1 court before
Marko Galic and
Adam Kovac tied the match at 1-1 with a win at the No. 2 court. The doubles team point was decided by a 7-6(4) intense match won by the Huskies to take a 1-0 match lead into singles play.
The Rockets stayed with the Huskies through singles play, picking up wins from
Pawit Sornlaksup,
Krzysztof Wetoszka and
Matias Olivero. Sornlaksup's No. 1 court victory kept his winning streak alive at 33 matches and 12-0 against conference opponents. Wetoszka picked up his fifth singles win and second consecutive MAC win from the No. 2 court, while Olivero's victory from the No. 5 court was his first in conference play. NIU won the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 courts to clinch the match and give Toledo its first conference loss this season.
Toledo (9-4, 1-1 MAC) has a tough home opponent on deck when it faces reigning MAC Champion Western Michigan on Sunday, March 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Northern Illinois 4, Toledo 3
Doubles
1. Pawit Mikael Vollback/ Cheng En Tsai (NIU) 6-3
2.
Marko Galic/
Adam Kovac (TOL) 6-4
3. Christopher Norlin/ Gaztambide, Arrastia (NIU) 7-6(4)
Singles
1.
Pawit Sornlaksup (TOL) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
2.
Krzysztof Wetoszka (TOL) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4
3. Mikael Vollbach (NIU) 6-1, 7-6(6)
4. Gaztambide, Arrastia (NIU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(6)
5.
Matias Olivero (TOL) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
6. Christopher Norlin (NIU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4