Maksym Bartiuk
Northern Illinois junior Maksym Bartiuk was named the Mid-American Conference’s Men’s Tennis Player of the Week, the conference announced Wednesday.
The honor marks the third time in his career that Bartiuk won the award.
He is also the fourth different Huskie to win the award in 2012, joining Axel Lagerlof on Feb. 22 and March 21, Mikhail Titov on March 8 and Dor Amir on March 15.
Bartiuk finished the weekend a flawless 4-0 with two wins apiece in singles and doubles play against Ball State and Marquette.
Bartiuk won at No. 3 doubles with partner Roman Turtygin against the Cardinals with a dominant 8-2 score and rallied in three sets at No. 5, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 to help the Huskies defeat Ball State, 6-1, and improve to 2-0 in the MAC. Against Marquette, he rallied again in singles with a three set victory at No. 4, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, and claimed a clutch victory at No. 2 doubles, 8-7.
With the win over Ball State on Saturday, it marked the first time since 1974 that the Northern Illinois men’s tennis team defeated the Broncos and the Cardinals in the same season.
NIU returns to the courts this weekend for the final two home matches of the season. The Huskies take on Toledo at 1 p.m. Saturday, Arpil 14, followed by a Sunday, April 15, tilt with Buffalo, also at 1 p.m.
For more information on NIU men’s tennis and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
