After two commanding victories last weekend against Butler and the University of Chicago, Northwestern hopes to continue its winning ways this weekend. In two dual meets, the Wildcats won 17 of the 18 matches they played. The Cats won both of the doubles points on the day, only losing to Butler in a hotly contested match at No. 1 doubles. The Cats went 12-0 in singles for the weekend, jump starting their 2-0 record for the season.
In doubles, the teams of senior Marc Dwyer and freshman Tobias Reitz; junior Alex Sanborn and freshman Josh Graves; and graduate student Alex Thams and freshman Eric Spector combined to beat their opponents by a score of 47-26. While the Cats would go on to win most of their doubles matches, several of the pairs got off to slow starts. As a result, starting the matches with more intensity was a point of emphasis in practice this week.
“I think we’ll be more aggressive this weekend,” coach Arvid Swan said. “That’s what we worked on all week, and hopefully we can translate that to match play.”
Junior captain Alex Sanborn also alluded to the team’s demanding practices this week. According to Sanborn, after a tough week of preparation, one of the keys to a successful weekend will be to maintain a high level of energy.
“I think we should get the doubles point in all three of the matches if we play as hard as we did in practice,” Sanborn said.
Another major focus this week, according to both Swan and Sanborn, was the Cats’ play at the net. Swan specifically noted that more movement on first serves and after good returns is important as NU prepares for tougher opponents.
This weekend, the Cats welcome IUPUI and Western Illinois on Saturday and UIC on Sunday. Against UIC last year, NU came away with a 4-0 victory in Swan’s dual match debut. Like last weekend, when eight of the Cats got a chance to play singles, Swan expects to tweak the lineup on Saturday and Sunday to find the one best suited for the conference schedule. These matches also end the Cats’ five match home stand. The Cats will travel on Feb. 7 to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to face Middle Tennessee State.
“We have to put three solid matches together (this weekend),” Swan said. “I think our focus was pretty solid last week. Hopefully that will continue.”
