MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A sweep of doubles play gave the Milwaukee tennis team an early spark, but the Panthers came up short to Northern Illinois Sunday afternoon by a final score of 4-3.
 
The Panthers took care of business early on sweeping doubles play to gain an early first point. Reigning Horizon League Doubles Team of the Week once again dominated their opponent, dropping just one game for a 6-1 victory. Greta Carbone and Iva Stejskalova clinched the point for the Black & Gold with a 6-1 win over Maria Pots and Lara Slisko from the No. 1 line. Anna Daniel Fuentes and Jurczak completed the sweep with a 6-4 win over NIU's Anastasia Rakita and Fernanda Naves.
 
"We played some incredible doubles today, and that set us up with a path to four points," said head coach Jason Potthoff. "We got three first sets but unfortunately we weren't able to finish any singles matches quickly, and that cost us. Everyone was feeling the effects of our long match yesterday, and Northern Illinois hung around and made things difficult and took advantage when we didn't close out games we had leads in. I'm disappointed in the result because we had a lot of opportunities, but I can't fault our heart or our competitiveness."
 
In singles, the Huskies rallied from doubles play and won the first four matches to win the match.
 
Anna Daniel Fuentes picked up her sixth singles win with a three-set thriller win over Fernanda Naves, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5(4). Junior Mayyer Perova picked up the third point for the Panthers with a comeback win over Anastasia Rakita, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
 
The Panthers will wrap up non-conference play next weekend, hosting Eastern Illinois and UW-Whitewater. Both matches will be played at River Glen Elite with 1 p.m. start times.