Men’s Tennis

After competing in the ITA Midwest Regional earlier in the week, Northwestern has a quick turnaround before competing at the Big Ten Singles and Doubles Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan this forthcoming weekend.

“We are going to the tournament trying to win as many matches as we can,” coach Arvid Swan said. “But really it’s just improving after each tournament and even within match to match. It’s maybe a little less results-based because we are not in the dual match season, but really its learning more about each player and where we are at and what we need to do to get better.”

At the ITA Midwest Regional, sophomore Nick Brookes was the highest finisher in the singles competition. He was the only NU player to advance to the third round.

Brookes and his doubles partner, freshman Simen Bratholm, also advanced the furthest of any NU doubles duo. The partnership advanced to the fourth round of the Regional before falling to Ohio State’s Martin Joyce and Hunter Tubert, 8-6.

No other team made it past the second round.

Only five members of the Cats’ 11-man roster are making the trek to Ann Arbor. It’s not the first time Swan has taken a shortened squad to a tournament this autumn.

“The biggest thing for us is just giving every guy an opportunity to show what they can do,” Swan said. “We took a group to regionals, just two players to the All-America, we are only taking four to (the Minnesota Mock Duals) and five here. It is just spreading it out.”

Two of the five competitors at the championships have won the singles titles in the past. Junior Dominik Stary won the 2016 singles title and sophomore Antonioni Fasano won the 2017 crown. Both competitors won as freshmen.

Fasano did not play at ITA Midwest Regional. At last year’s tournament, he defeated Ohio State’s Matt Mendez in the finals after conquering Brookes in the semifinals.

“I did win this tournament last year so I think it would be nice if I could do that, but personally I am thinking about playing my game,” Fasano said.

As for Stary, he did compete at the ITA Midwest Regional but said his performance was uneven. He said he played some good sets, but was they were mixed in between some subpar frames.

During the few practices between events, Stary said he has been working on his serving after struggling in the artform in South Bend. Stary said the tournament is not going to be easy and that he is going to do his best.

“I will be happy if any one of the five people from Northwestern traveling to the tournament is going to come back with the title,” Stary said. “I will be happy … and continue the path we started on two years ago, and win the third title in a row.”

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