The Northern Illinois University men’s tennis team hosted Drake on Monday evening, dropping a hard fought 4-3 match to the Bulldogs. The match was originally scheduled for 11 a.m., but was moved back due to a blizzard warning.

Drake won the doubles point, taking wins on courts two and three. Iker Gaztambide Arrastia / Nikola Puntaric defeated Adan Tarquino / Ulysse Verrando 6-3 and are 9-3 as a duo this season.

NIU made a charge in singles, winning three of four matches to start, but dropped the final two matches for Drake to take the non-conference victory.

Puntaric (Ljubljana, Slovenia / Tulsa) recorded his third victory of the season at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Christian Winstead. Gaztambide Arrastia (Pamplona, Spain / Jesuitas) kept the momentum going from doubles and won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2.

Federico Scotuzzi (Bergamo, Italy / North Alabama) notched a three-set win at No. 4, winning 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 for the Huskies final win of the night.

NIU hosts both Buffalo and Toledo this week, facing the Bulls on Thursday and Rockets on Saturday.