By Pritish BehuriaThe Daily Northwestern
Fresh off their first Big Ten win of the season, a 20-day break may have come at the wrong time for the Wildcats.
Northwestern (6-9, 1-2 Big Ten) lost to No. 18 South Alabama, 5-2, in dual action Friday, after they edged No. 35 Wisconsin (9-6, 2-2 Big Ten), 4-3, earlier this month to snap a string of five dual-match losses.
“It was the last one before spring break and we had a very demanding schedule before that. It was a great effort from the team and good to go into the break on a high note,” coach Paul Torricelli said. “South Alabama was our only match (during break) and we were on the road and they were stronger than us.”
The month started on a high note for the Cats with senior Willy Lock coming through in the clutch twice against the Badgers.
With the doubles point tied at 1-1, Lock and fellow senior Matt Christian held serve to take an 8-7 lead and then rallied back from a love-30 deficit to win the match and the doubles point.
“When the team’s under pressure, (Lock is) a person you can always put your money on,” senior Christian Tempke said.
Lock came through in the clutch again for the Cats with the dual tied at 3-3.
Coming from a set down in the decisive match against the Badgers’ Nolan Polley, Lock took his game up a notch to win the decisive match, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4.
“Willy’s been in those situations before and really performed well in the clutch and showed his experience,” Torricelli said.
Unfortunately for NU, the team could not turn this win into a streak, with its loss to the South Alabama Jaguars on Friday.
Sophomore Marc Dwyer was the only Cat to get a win in singles action, while the doubles pairings continued their form from earlier this month to take the doubles point. Dwyer’s win moved his singles record to 6-10.
Torricelli said Dwyer has been playing much better recently and Torricelli is looking forward to a strong finish to the season.
The 54th-ranked duo of Lock and Christian and the pairing of Tempke and junior Juan Gomez won their matches to cancel out Dwyer and Alex Sanborn’s fifth straight doubles loss. Dwyer and Sanborn were 5-2 before their losing streak.
“We’re getting bad breaks and we need to be more aggressive and hold our serves,” Sanborn said.
