By Pritish BehuriaThe Daily Northwestern
Senior Willy Lock played his part during the last Big Ten road trip of his career.
Lock was dominant in singles action over the weekend, losing just five games in two straight-set victories.
But the rest of the team could not match his performance on Friday, as Northwestern (8-13, 3-6 Big Ten) fell to No. 36 Minnesota, 6-1.
“It was a very good weekend for me,” Lock said. “But it doesn’t matter. In the end, we try and win as a team and we couldn’t do that on Friday.”
With his two wins, Lock moved his singles record to 11-10 on the season. He is the only NU player with a winning singles record.
NU followed Friday’s loss by stepping up its performance Sunday, beating Iowa 5-2 and snapping the Wildcats’ four-match losing streak.
The Cats started the day well, winning the doubles point, and followed it up by winning four out of six singles matches against the Hawkeyes (7-11, 0-8).
Christian, Lock and Tempke won in straight sets, while freshman Alex Sanborn won at No. 6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Coach Paul Torricelli shifted NU’s doubles lineup over the weekend, with Sanborn and sophomore Marc Dwyer moving to No. 1 doubles and seniors Matt Christian and Lock moving to No. 2.
Sanborn and Dwyer narrowly lost both matches over the weekend. They fell to the Gophers’ pairing of Nich Edlefsen and Sion Wilkins 9-7 and lost to the Hawkeyes’ Bart Van Monsjou and J.P. Ritchie, 9-8 (5)
“Marc and I are playing really well together,” Sanborn said. “It’s a couple of points here and there and kind of frustrating to lose, but I know we’ll start winning matches in the future.”
Sanborn also lost a close match at No. 6 singles against the Gophers (14-6, 4-3) on Friday. He split the first two sets with Wilkins before falling in a third-set super-tiebreak, 10-7.
“He lost the momentum of his match,” Torricelli said. “He let the second set get away from him and then couldn’t get back in it.”
Christian and Lock came into the weekend on a five-match losing streak, and the drop to No. 2 doubles didn’t help Friday, as they still fell to the Gophers’ Mikey Kantar and Raoul Schwark, 8-5.
But they beat the Hawkeyes’ Gregory Holm and Walker Grimes 8-4 to help the Cats win the doubles point Sunday for the second time in their last six matches.
Christian and Lock’s win over the Hawkeyes brought their season record to 9-12.
“I thought we’d give Alex and Marc a chance,” Torricelli said. “Matt and Willy have been really struggling, and it’s always tough playing at No. 1. I thought they needed to get some wins to help them with their confidence.”
Reach Pritish Behuria at [email protected].
