After sprinting out to a 5-0 start, Northwestern will face its toughest test of the season this weekend as they travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to face Middle Tennessee State.
Middle Tennessee State (2-0), a perennial NCAA tournament contender, is coming off a disappointing 9-16 year. While the Blue Raiders failed to make the NCAA tournament in both 2007 and 2008, they had qualified for eight NCAA tournaments in the previous 12 seasons.
“I expect a very tough match,” coach Arvid Swan said. “I think it’s a great test for us.”
While Middle Tennessee State has had superb singles players in the past, it is a traditional doubles powerhouse. As recently as 2007, Blue Raiders Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom were crowned NCAA doubles champions.
“We’ve got to challenge them in doubles,” Swan said. “It would be great to sneak the doubles point away at an away match.”
While the Wildcats have dominated in singles play, going 30-0 on the year, they have had slightly more trouble in doubles, compiling a 13-2 record thus far. Although the three doubles matches only account for one of the seven total points in the meet, they do contribute greatly to the momentum of the contest. And as this young team gains valuable experience, momentum is invaluable in winning tough matches.
“In a dual match it is a game of momentum,” Swan said. “Especially when you are playing close competition.”
However, NU knows that it cannot simply rely on improved doubles play to win the match. As junior captain Alex Sanborn explained, the Cats must compete in all nine matches if they expect to leave Murfreesboro victorious.
“Swan keeps on reminding us that for us to win we have to bring six singles and three doubles matches to every match,” Sanborn said.
In many ways, these two squads are mirror images of each other. In addition to their relative youth, both teams have a second-year coach at the helm. Both teams come into the match undefeated, and Saturday’s contest figures to be the toughest match yet for both teams.
Unlike the Cats, however, the Blue Raiders boast an international team, with only two of their eight players hailing from the United States.
After handily defeating all five of their opponents by a combined score of 35-0 this year, the Cats have been gearing up in practice for what will be their biggest challenge of the young season.
“We really haven’t been challenged this year, so this will be the first time where we’re going to have some matches where they will be very close,” Swan said. “So we’ve got to use the momentum to win the close matches and we’ve got to be mentally tough. And hopefully we’ll come out on top.”
