The score was 8-8 and the Combe Tennis Center was silent.
The other two doubles matches were finished, so all the attention was on Matt Christian and Adam Schaechterle, who were locked in a tie breaker with the doubles point reliant on the result.
When the Wildcats’ combo finally scored the winning point, the crowd released its nervous energy through applause and the team cheered as the tandem ran excitedly off court.
What a difference a point makes.
The doubles win gave the No. 37 Cats (7-3) the momentum they needed to propel them through the singles matches to a 4-3 victory over No. 25 Arkansas (3-1) on Sunday. The win came a day after the Cats lost for the first time in five matches, 7-0, against No. 21 Harvard.
“Win the doubles point and win the match,” coach Paul Torricelli said. “That point was the difference today. Tommy (Hanus) and Christian (Tempke) won so fast to start us off, and the great effort by Matt and Adam gave us momentum for the rest of the match.”
Torricelli attributed the 7-0 loss to Harvard to the fact that the Crimson was a better overall team. But he said his team and Arkansas were evenly matched and he thought from the beginning that they had a good chance to win.
The team, which moved up 21 spots in last week’s rankings, was adjusting to new doubles combinations against Harvard, and they started out a little flat. But Torricelli said that overall there was a big improvement over last weekend’s play.
Christian said there was a clear difference between the level of team excitement between Saturday and Sunday that helped the Cats give the Razorbacks their first loss of the season.
“After yesterday we definitely wanted to come out and beat Arkansas,” Christian said. “Everyone played more like a team right away. I mean, I could hear Adam cheering for me during singles and he was on court 6 and I was on court 1. That was awesome and it helped a lot.”
Perrin and Justin Hoeveler were NU’s only pair to win against Harvard, 9-8 (10-8), at the No. 1 doubles spot. The Crimson clinched the match at No. 5 singles, when Chris Chiou defeated Christian, 6-3, 6-3. That put the score at 4-0, and Harvard took the remaining matches for the shutout.
Against Arkansas, the Cats remained focused after the exciting doubles win to pull off the victory. Perrin and Christian both won their matches quickly at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots. Shortly after, Willy Lock clinched the game with a 6-4, 6-1 win at the No.4 spot to put NU up 4-0.
Although Hanus, Tempke and Schaechterle lost, the Cats had already sealed the win.
“Watching Matt and Adam play, we were confident that they would get the win,” junior Chuck Perrin said. “It gave us good momentum into the singles matches, but we stayed focused really well through the whole thing, so that was great.”
