Updated April 26, 9:55 p.m.
After losing to No. 37 Michigan at home on March 29, No. 42 Northwestern finished the regular season strong, winning five of its final six matches. Despite this progress, the outcome of Friday’s Big Ten Tournament match was nearly identical.
Once again, the match-clinching win for the Wolverines was at No. 1 singles, where Michigan’s Jason Jung defeated NU senior Marc Dwyer in three sets. Dwyer took the first set 6-3, but then lost the second set 3-6 and lost again in a close third set 4-6.
The loss at No. 1 singles gave the Wolverines a 4-2 victory over the Wildcats. Once a team gets to four points in the Big Ten Tournament, play is stopped. Freshman Tobias Reitz kept the match alive when NU was down 3-1 by winning a second-set tiebreak to force a third set in his match.
“He played clutch,” NU coach Arvid Swan said. “He did a great job in the second set to keep us alive, and in the third set he was up 6-5 and had a great opportunity to win if we had been able to finish that match.”
For the full recap, check Tuesday’s print edition.
