Alex Friesen watched his 13-match winning streak come to an end on Sunday as the Huskies men’s tennis team (8-6 overall, 1-2 MAC) fell to the Toledo Rockets in a 4-3 decision.

Friesen’s streak snapped when he and his doubles partner fell to the No. 2 doubles team from Toledo. Despite the loss, the senior pulled off a win in No. 2 singles play, with a 6-4, 7-5 finish over the Rockets’ (15-11, 3-1) Chris Clark.

“It’s always nice to have a streak going, but when it comes to an end, you can’t dwell on it,” NIU coach Pontus Hiort said. “All you can do is move on, pick up the pieces and start building a new streak.”

NIU junior Brian Livingston saw his streak grow over the weekend, as he reached 12 consecutive wins. The Skokie native extended his streak after a 6-3, 6-3 win over Toledo’s Jared Miller in No. 1 singles play.

“It always helps knowing that both Brian and Alex have been performing in singles really well,” Hiort said. “It’s nice to know that they are successful in getting us wins in the top of the lineup, which is hard to do.”

Soaring higher

Seniors Elizabeth Berquist and Meagan Guenther helped the women’s track and field team to a fourth-place finish at the Lee Calhoun Memorial Track and Field Meet on Sunday.

The pair led the team as they both took first place in their individual events.

Berquist soared over her competition to reach a 5-7 mark in the high jump to take top honors. Guenther pounded her competitor’s chances for victory, as she won the hammer throw with a 164-7 mark.

Along with two first-place teammates, senior Coretta Evans also performed well for the team. The sprinter placed second in the 200-meter dash. Evans ran the dash in 25.39 seconds, less than two-tenths of a second behind the first-place finisher.

Toledo Trouble

Toledo continued to cause trouble for the Huskies over the weekend, as the Rockets beat the women’s tennis team in a 6-1 NIU loss.

However, NIU head coach Ryun Ferrell is not worried about Saturday’s defeat. He said that the team looked good and described the contest as a great day for the Huskies.

“We have been very disciplined in practice,” Ferrell said. “We are letting zero negativity come into our workouts. We have really gone back to our basics and it’s worked really well.”

The coach saw improvement during the Toledo match. Ferrell said the team looked better than when it faced Eastern Michigan. NIU took on the Eagles earlier in the weekend and was unable pull away with the win. The Huskies dropped the contest 7-0.

Ferrell said the team just needs to slow down its pace and make the other team work.

“The thing that I have been preaching a lot to these girls is to really make the other team play,” the coach said. “In singles, it’s a little tougher. Some of the girls, right off the bat, will try to rip into the girls right away, but I am trying to get them to slow it down and get back into the groove of things.”

The team will be back on the court Wednesday when Chicago State travels to DeKalb.

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