Coach Paul Torricelli immediately dismissed it as a team goal, and Joost Hol didn’t even know about it until Sunday afternoon – but after this weekend, the Northwestern men’s tennis team is two giant steps closer to history.
The Wildcats (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten) dispatched Michigan (5-1, 0-1) and Michigan State (5-2, 0-1) at the Johnson Tennis Center in Evanston and now need three wins to match the best start in NU history, a 9-0 mark posted by Torricelli’s 1990 squad. NU clawed back to top Michigan 4-3 on Saturday and cruised to a 7-0 win over Michigan State on Sunday.
“They are incredibly competitive and just do not want to lose,” Torricelli said Sunday. “They’ve been ready to play every time out. … At this point, to lose we’re going to have to flat-out get outplayed by a better team.”
The Cats refused to let that happen against a young Michigan State squad, which scrapped its way back into several early matches before faltering in crunch time. NU’s No. 1, Jackie Jenkins, was down one set and 1-0 in the second after the Spartans’ Goran Topalo trickled a half-volley over the net. Then, up 15-love, Topalo took his time in calling a Jenkins forehand wide, prompting an icy crosscourt glare from his opponent.
The disputed call sparked Jenkins, who rattled off four consecutive points to claim the game. Then he broke Topalo and closed out the set 6-3.
Jenkins stormed ahead 3-0 in the third set before a resilient Topalo broke serve and narrowed the gap to 4-3. Topalo then staved off one match point, bringing the match back on serve. But Jenkins would not be denied, smashing a backhand passing shot to secure the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“He just made me play point after point, and I had to come up with winner after winner,” Jenkins said. “There wasn’t any point in the match where I felt he was going to give it away to me – I had to take it from him.”
The win took some of the sting out of Jenkins’ heartbreaking loss Saturday to Michigan’s Henry Beam Jr. Jenkins was only two points away from winning the match before Beam stormed back to take the second set 7-5, then dominated the third set 6-1.
“His development has made a big difference for this team,” Torricelli said. “He got off to a good start at the beginning of the third set against Topalo, which was really important for him. Then he had chances to serve it out and couldn’t do it, but he came up with two big passing shots to win the match.”
Minutes after Jenkins notched NU’s third match victory, Hol started a third-set tiebreak with Michigan State freshman Chris Mitchell. Hol was two points from the win before Mitchell blasted big serves to earn the tiebreaker.
But Hol buckled down, hammering a blistering serve to take the tiebreak and the match 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
“I had a lot of chances to beat him,” Hol said. “I kind of loosened up on my serve and gave him too many opportunities. But I was pretty confident that I could win – whether or not I was going to, that was questionable – I stuck with it.”
Hol had teamed up with junior Brad Erickson earlier in the day to down Michigan State’s No. 1 doubles team 8-5. Jenkins and Russell Bennett routed Topalo and Rodrigo Abucham 8-1 to earn NU the doubles point.
“We’re not great anywhere, but we’re good everywhere,” Torricelli said. “That’s important. That’s how you win dual matches. Our depth is very good.”
The Cats needed every inch of their depth Saturday against a demanding Michigan squad. With ATP star and recent NU sports hall of fame inductee Todd Martin in attendance, NU bounced back from a 3-1 deficit to top its longtime rival.
No. 4 Jamie Sahara knotted the score at 4 with a straight-sets win before No. 2 Erickson blitzed the Wolverines’ Ben Cox 6-3, 6-4.
“We needed that because it’s the first match of the weekend,” Torricelli said. “Michigan’s a great program, they are ranked 30th in the country and have always been a great rival for us, so it was a big win.”
And whether they acknowledge the school record, NU players are not planning to lose anytime soon.
“I’m actually going to work out after this, hitting the weights,” Jenkins said Sunday. “It’s non-stop – there’s no time to rest because there’s always someone ready to play you harder.”
