Sept. 15, 2007

29th Annual Ball State Invitational Results in PDF Format
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Muncie, Ind. - Northern Illinois men's tennis coach Pontius Hiort knows what to expect from his players in the first tournament of any given season.

There will be bright spots, but with the highs, come the lows as missed opportunities were abundant for the Huskies in the second day of the 29th Annual Ball State Invitational at Cardinal Creek Tennis Center and Muncie Central High School on Saturday afternoon.

"We played at a decent level and put ourselves in position to make some good things happen," Hiort said. "We just didn't capitalize on the opportunities when we had them, because we should have been able to come up with some more wins than we did."

Senior Alex Friesen (Vancouver, B.C. / Burnaby Central) is still alive in the consolation bracket of the A-Flight, as he advanced to the finals with victories over Eastern Illinois' Vuk Milizevic (6-1, 6-4) and Jordan Nestrud (6-2, 6-2).

Friesen, who is the only NIU competitor left in the tournament, will face Ball State's Jose Perdomo for the consolation championship at 8 a.m. (CST) on Sunday morning.

NIU junior Brian Livingston (Skokie, Ill. / Niles North) advanced to the A-Flight semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Cleveland State's Phil Orno. Livingston was not quite as successful in his bid for a berth in the finals, as Ball State's Eduardo Pavia handed him a 3-6, 6-0, 10-7 defeat.