The doubles team of sophomore Simen Bratholm and junior Nick Brookes may not have played a competitive match in almost a month, but it was impossible to tell at this week’s NCAA Doubles Championship in Orlando.

The duo won their first round match Tuesday over a ranked pairing before falling in the Sweet 16 of the tournament Wednesday.

Competing against the No. 5-8 ranked duo of Harrison Scott and Christian Sigsgaard from Texas in the first round, Bratholm and Brookes pulled out an intense three-set victory to advance to the Sweet 16.

Bratholm and Brookes won the first set 7-5 before losing the second set 6-2. As a result of the split, the match went to a tiebreaker, where Bratholm and Brookes came up clutch and pulled out a 10-8 victory.

Less than three days before, the Longhorns had defeated defending champion Wake Forest to win the team national title. However, the Scott and Sigsgaard pairing lost to the Demon Deacons’ duo of Alan Gadjiev and Borna Gojo, who were ranked No. 63 coming into the match.

Both Scott and Sigsgaard competed Monday in the singles championship, and both lost. Sigsgaard, who entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed, fell to Lone Star State rival Juan Aguilar of Texas A&M in straight sets. Scott also lost to William Blumberg of North Carolina in straight sets.

In their Sweet 16 matchup Wednesday, Bratholm and Brookes went up against Mississippi State’s Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini. The duo played the first set close before losing 6-4, and then faltered in the second to fall in straight sets.

Braun and Oradini defeated Texas Tech’s team of Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn in the Round of 32. The match also went down to a tiebreaker, which Braun and Oradini won 10-6.

Oradini also competed in the singles competition, defeating Charlie Broom of Dartmouth in the first round and Joseph Guillin of UC Santa Barbara in the second round.

The 2018-19 Northwestern season is now officially over. The Wildcats finished the season with a 14-14 record and 5-6 conference mark. The doubles duo were the only members of the team selected to the NCAA Championships. It was the first time NU was represented at an NCAA Championship event since 2017.

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