Mark Schanerman has had an impressive start to his collegiate tennis career at Northwestern. The freshman broke three match points in a comeback that gave NU an upset win over No. 18 Alabama. After the Wildcats lost three straight, he helped the team get back on track with the clinching victory at No. 5 singles against then-No. 75 Western Michigan.
Schanerman is now 5-1 on the season, including a perfect 4-0 from the No. 6 spot. He also won his only doubles match when he teamed with senior captain Alex Sanborn.
“I’ve been playing pretty well but I still have a long way to go,” Schanerman said. “As the season goes on, I’m probably going to play better, and it will keep translating into success.”
The Cats have benefitted from near-perfect performances from their No. 5 and No. 6 singles spots. While their top four spots have gone 18-17, their bottom two spots have finished 12-2.
“We have tremendous depth,” coach Arvid Swan said. “We have nine good players and our guys are very close in terms of one through nine. There’s not a big disparity, so the guys I put in to play five and six are similar levels to the guys who play one through four. The depth has helped us win at the lower spots in the lineup the last couple years.”
For all the success NU (6-3) has had this season, it has yet to win a game away from the Combe Tennis Center.
There has been a stark contrast between the team’s play at home and on the road. No. 44 NU started its season with four wins at home, including a 4-3 win over then-No. 18 Alabama.
But when the Cats left home, things turned ugly. NU lost three straight on the road, including a 6-1 loss to then-No. 48 Vanderbilt. The Cats will be seeking their first road win of the season Saturday against No. 75 Princeton.
Princeton (2-3) got off to a rough start to its season, getting blown out in three of its first four matches, all on the road. Overall the Tigers have been outscored 25-10 this season. Princeton recorded a big victory its last time on the court, winning its home opener against St. John’s 4-3.
“They’ve got some strong players and so we’ve got to be ready to go,” Swan said. “I’m expecting a tough match….I know we’re going to have to play well.”
After playing five matches in a 14-day span earlier in the season, the Cats haven’t played in a competitive match since their Feb. 13 victory over Middle Tennessee State. When they take the court against Princeton, it will have been two weeks since NU last competed.
“A match is different than practice, but we’ll be OK in that regard,” Swan said. “We haven’t played a match in a little bit but hopefully we can get through the rust pretty quick.”
The time off has also helped the team get healthy. The Cats expect to have junior Andrew McCarthy back for this weekend and are also looking for improved play from sophomore Josh Graves, who has lost his last three singles matches while being hampered by a leg injury.
After two weeks of rest and practice, Graves said he’s 100 percent and expects his team to come out strong, regardless of the down time.
“Our first match was Ball State and we came out ready to go and we hadn’t played a match since the previous year,” Graves said. “We’ve been playing a lot of practice matches. We compete hard against each other as well, so it almost feels like a real match out here.”
On the doubles side, the Cats hope to see continued strong play from Graves and Sanborn. The duo is 4-1 from the No. 2 slot.
“We’re a good combo,” Graves said. “I’m lefty, he’s righty. He’s really quick at net and I bring the big serve. We both have pretty solid returns. We make a good team.”[email protected]
