Both men’s and women’s tennis took on ranked teams this weekend in a series of home matches at the Combe Tennis Center.
Northwestern’s sixth-ranked women’s team hosted the Wildcat Invitational this weekend, coming out on top in all four days of play.
On Thursday the Cats took on Iowa and New Mexico in doubles play, finishing the day 4-2. The only losses came at No. 1 doubles, where senior Cristelle Grier and freshman Georgia Rose fell to both Iowa and New Mexico.
Day two proved to be one of domination, as the Cats finished at 10-1 in singles competition. NU faced Iowa first and then swept Florida State in all five singles competitions.
“I thought the team did great on the second day, ” Grier said. “Everyone really pulled together and played great tennis individually, and we showed as a team we are right up there, proving our No. 6 ranking.”
On Saturday, NU played a mix of doubles and singles against Penn State, ending the day 8-2. Rose blanked Penn State’s Katelyn BeVard at the No. 3 singles, winning 6-0, 6-0.
The Cats’ momentum carried over to their last day of play and finbished 5-1 in singles against New Mexico.
“We wanted to go into this weekend really tuning up our game and playing collectively again,” Grier said. “You feel seperated at times, and this is a great opportunity to play at home and develop our game as a team. “
The weekend wasn’t as kind to the men’s tennis team. The Cats fell Saturday as No. 26 Notre Dame took the match, 6-1.
NU’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Adam Schaechterle and junior Matt Christian held its own against Notre Dame, winning 8-6, but it wasn’t enough. The Fighting Irish ended up snagging the doubles point, taking the next two doubles matches.
In the No. 2 doubles, junior Willie Lock gained an advantage point with an ace, but quickly lost the upper hand with a double fault. Notre Dame took the match in a 9-7 loss for the Cats.
“Our philosophy is we don’t dwell on it,” men’s tennis head coach Paul Torricelli said. “If you win the doubles point, you can’t be complacent because it’s not a safe lead. And if you lose the doubles point it’s not insurmountable.”
In the singles matches NU had to combat premature loses. An injury forced Christian to end early and shortly after sophomore Juan Gomez lost to Notre Dame’s Brett Helgeson at No. 4 singles.
Schaechterle kept NU in the match with a victory at the No. 6 singles, beating Notre Dame’s 65th-ranked Eric Langenkamp 6-3, 6-0.
Christian Tempke exhibited some phenomenal play in the second set at No. 1 singles, and came close to forcing a third, but Bass clinched the win in a tiebreaker to take the match 6-3, 7-6 (4).
“I think Christian is playing really well,” Torricelli said. “This is his first year of playing number one, and he’s very motivated to win at number one.”
The 6-1 loss dropped NU’s overall record to 3-2.
Reach Diane Yamazaki at [email protected].
