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Huskie tennis players rock weekly MAC honors

March 27, 2014
Nelle Youel

Nelle Youel

For the second consecutive week, Nelle Youel has been named MAC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week.

This marks the fifth time Youel has earned the honor in her career at NIU.

Youel picked up two wins in No. 1 matches last week as the Huskies began conference play. At Ball State on March 21, she bested Courtney Wild, 6-3, 6-3. She followed that performance with a March 22 win over Nimisha Mohan, 6-3, 7-5, at Miami (Ohio).

Youel and the rest of the NIU women’s tennis team will be at home this weekend to take on two MAC foes. The Huskies face Akron at 1 p.m. Friday, March 28, and take on Buffalo at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 29. Both matches will be held at the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford.

Meanwhile, for the second time this season, the NIU men’s tennis team has swept the MAC men’s tennis weekly awards. This time, the winners are Jovan Zeljkovic and Matt Lynch: Zeljkovic, named MAC Player of the Week, teamed up with Lynch to earn the Doubles Team of the Week award.

Zeljkovic improved his record this spring to 10-4 with a March 22 win against St. Louis. He took down Nishad Balachandran, 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 4 spot to help the Huskies pick up a 7-0 win against the Billikens.

Zeljkovic hooked up with Lynch in the affair for doubles play. In the No. 3 match, they took on Vuk Poledica and Paarth Dodhiawala, pulling out an 8-4 win. The win sealed the doubles point for the Huskies in the affair, giving the team an early 1-0 edge and marking this tandem’s eighth victory of the spring.

Lynch and Zeljkovic will look to keep it going as the Huskies visit Western Michigan for a 1 p.m. Friday, March 28, match.

For more information on NIU tennis and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.