Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

39° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Men’s Tennis: Second sets clinch win for Vandy

After being swept in doubles, Northwestern bucked a trend of slow starts in singles by putting in strong first sets against Vanderbilt on Tuesday.

Despite coming out strong, the Cats’ effort was not enough to unseat No. 22 Vanderbilt, as the Commodores took all but one singles match and won 6-1.

“(We were) very disappointed in doubles,” coach Arvid Swan said. “I talked to the guys in between doubles and singles about what our expectations are. … I don’t think they were that pleased with the doubles performance tonight. I think they really wanted to come out for singles.”

In doubles, the freshman duo of Pete Rispoli and Andrew McCarthy were the first ones ousted with an 8-2 defeat at No. 2. The next Wildcats loss came from junior Marc Dwyer and sophomore captain Alex Sanborn. The 8-4 loss at No. 1 clinched the doubles point for Vanderbilt. The match at No. 3 was the most competitive one at doubles. Graduate student Alexander Thams and freshman David Seyferth played a tough match that ended in an 8-6 loss.

While the Cats (6-8) only won two of the six first sets against Vanderbilt (9-2) in singles, they lost only one of the sets by more than two games.

After NU kept up with Vanderbilt throughout the first sets, it began to lose ground during the second. Dwyer was the first one to lose his match for the Cats at No. 1. The match at No. 6 was the next one to finish, with Gomez falling 6-2, 6-4.

The Commodores clinched the victory with a tight matchup at No. 5. McCarthy lost 7-5, 6-4 in his first singles match in dual play.

After the first three matches resulted in straight-set losses, the Cats were able to split sets for the remainder. Thams played a close first set, came back on the second and then was blown out in third at No. 3. The student from Sweden lost 6-4, 6-3, 6-0. Rispoli dominated in his first set, but then couldn’t pull out the victory through the next two in a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss at No. 4.

This problem occurred in the last match, as Ripsoli also won his first set convincingly, but then lost the next two.

“To get over the hump, (I have) to keep putting myself in the situations,” Rispoli said. “As a freshman coming in and playing a lot of juniors and seniors, things will start rolling my way. For sure they’re going to start going my way next year.”

NU’s only victory of the night came from Sanborn at No. 2. The team captain played in a close first set that forced a tiebreaker. Sanborn was then beaten badly in his second set, but bested Vanderbilt’s Vijay Paul 7-6 (4), 1-6, 1-0 (4).

“(Paul) picked up his game in the second set,” Sanborn said. “I wasn’t really attacking. I was letting him control of the points. In the third set, I just basically gutted it out, just trying to be consistent.”

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Men’s Tennis: Second sets clinch win for Vandy