The Combe Tennis Center was as busy as a small airport this weekend, as the Northwestern women’s tennis team fell to No. 4 Duke, and the men’s team toppled its first two opponents of the year, Denver and Northern Illinois.
The No. 12 women’s team looked good early but succumbed to what coach Claire Pollard described as “emotional fatigue,” losing 5-2 to Duke.
Five of the Cats’ six singles players jumped out to big leads and were within a game of taking the first set, but only freshman Cristelle Grier and sophomore Andrea Yung were able to win their matches.
Grier, ranked No. 16 in the nation, was scheduled to play No. 2 Kelly McCain, but the Blue Devils’ sophomore hurt her leg in a doubles match earlier in the evening and was replaced by No. 15 Amanda Johnson.
“I wanted to play McCain,” Grier said. “I would have given her a go.”
Pollard was proudest of Yung’s performance. The second-year player took Blue Devil Sarah Arasu to two set tie-breakers, losing the first and winning the second to force a match tie-breaker, which she won 10-4 to give her the victory.
After dominating a weak DePaul team Wednesday, the Cats were eager to see how they stacked up against stronger competition. Pollard wanted the team to work on building points and extending rallies rather than going for winners too early. Even after Saturday’s loss, Pollard was pleased with the way her team performed.
“Our team is just so much better than we were on Wednesday. I felt we did a much better job building points,” Pollard said. “We just couldn’t sustain the emotional intensity we needed in order to win that match.”
Despite the loss, Pollard said she and the team were not disappointed with the result.
“We know how close we are to the top teams,” junior Jessica Rush said, “and we know we can beat them.”
In the men’s match-ups, NU beat both Denver and Northern Illinois 5-2 this weekend.
NU started the Denver match Saturday by losing the doubles point, but four easy singles wins — by Tommy Hanus, Jackie Jenkins, Ahmed Wahla and Josh Axler — sealed the team win. NU’s No. 4 player, Chuck Perrin, lost his first set but eked out the win.
The Cats’ Sunday victory over Northern Illinois came in much the same manner — after losing the doubles point, the Cats took five of six singles matches. But despite having the same score, Sunday’s win was more hard-fought.
“Today’s match was alot tougher than yesterday’s,” NU coach Paul Torricelli said. “Playing yesterday helped us out a lot today.”
Sunday’s only singles loss came from Hanus, the Cats’ No. 1 player, who shouted and swung his racket disgustedly after several lost points. He was defeated in straight sets by Northern Illinois’ Raymond van Wasbeek.
“I had seen (van Wasbeek) lose to the guy I smoked on Saturday, so I thought this match would be easy,” the sophomore said.
Adam Schachterle won his first collegiate dual match on Sunday. The freshman easily won the first set, but his opponent, David Pickel, made things interesting in the second set before falling 6-2 in the third in front of Schachterle’s family, teammates and friends.
“I love it when the crowd gets loud,” he said, “and it helped so much that they were here today.”
