CHAMPAIGN – “Let’s use this as a learning experience.”
After its first shutout loss of the season, and its first conference defeat, this was the message that the Northwestern men’s tennis team conveyed. Facing No. 3 Illinois, No. 37 NU was a heavy underdog. But to their credit, the Cats appeared to give their all througout the four-hour match.
“Of course, a 7-0 loss is not good,” Cats head coach Paul Torricelli said.
“There were a couple of matches where we beat ourselves, but in general it shows that Illinois should get the credit it deserves.”
With its four ranked singles players and one ranked doubles team, the Fighting Illini’s victory did not come as a surprise to the Cats. Illinois racked up its eighth straight win against NU and its 48th straight Big Ten victory.
“We were able to see the level at which Illinois plays,” senior Jamie Sahara said. “We know they’re the best in the region, so we tried to play relaxed and hopefully just get some shots in.”
The Cats suffered their first conference loss and fell to 11-5 overall (4-1 Big Ten), while the Illini improved to 15-4 (5-0).
Early on, Illinois convincingly took the doubles point, winning all three matches. In the No. 1 spot, Illini sophomores Amir Delic and Michael Calkins beat the Cats’ duo of freshman Tommy Hanus and junior Russell Bennett 8-6. At No. 2, NU junior Jackie Jenkins and freshman Chuck Perrin fell 8-3 to sophomores Phil Stolt and Brian Wilson. And the senior tandem of Mike Kosta and Nathan Zeder beat senior Ryan Edlefsen and junior Josh Axler of NU, 8-2.
Singles action didn’t pan out much better for the Cats. Not only did they lose every match, they won only one set. After seeing his five teammates lose their singles matches, the pressure was on the lone NU player on the court, Sahara, to avoid the shutout.
After losing the first set 6-2 to Stolt in the No. 3 slot, Sahara came back to win the second 6-7. The atmosphere in the Atkins Tennis Center was intense as both teams crowded along the nearby sideline in the tiebreaking third set.
During pauses in the competition and cheers from his teammates, Sahara spoke with assistant coach Jay Udwadia on the sidelines.
“After the first set, Jay told me to attack the baseline more,” Sahara said. “After the second, he told me to take more chances on returns. And during the third, he told me to have fun.”
But the expert advice wasn’t enough to pull out the third-set win, as Sahara fell to Stolt in a tiebreaker. Despite the loss, Sahara was pleased with his performance and said the Cats are ready to face unranked Iowa (10-5, 2-2) on Saturday.
“I’m really happy with the way I played – that last tiebreaker could have gone either way,” he said. “I feel I needed to have taken more chances off my returns, but I know now that’s what I have to do.”
Regarding the match against Iowa, Torricelli said he knows what his team has to do.
“The players need to be able to eliminate unforced errors and use tonight as an incentive for Saturday, ” he said. “Iowa almost beat (No. 14) Ohio State last weekend. We have our work cut out for us.”
Though they lost to Illinois, the trip downstate wasn’t a total waste for the Cats. They got an eyeful of what competition is like against a top-tier tennis team, and Sahara said he was been encouraged by the experience.
“This is a potential national championship team,” he said. “And if we could play them competitively, then it gives us hope that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
