It was an eventful weekend for Northwestern, as the tennis team powered through an intense schedule of three matches against No. 8 Duke, UIC and Oregon in just two days.
In their first matchup of the weekend, the Wildcats hosted the Ducks, but failed to find any success against the PAC-12 squad, as NU was defeated 4-0.
The ‘Cats showed promise in the early doubles stages as junior Felix Nordby and senior Gleb Blekher defeated David Cierny and Matthew Burton 6-3 on Court 1.
However, that momentum halted after senior Presley Theineman and sophomore Chad Miller dropped their match 6-4 to Avi Shugar and Lachlan Robertson on Court 2, setting up a battle for a doubles point between freshman Greyson Casey and senior Saiprakash Goli against Ray Lo and Lenn Luemkemann.
Casey and Goli fought down to the wire against Lo and Luemkemann but came up just short as the Ducks duo succeeded in a nail-biting 7-6 win to hand Oregon the doubles point.
Once the match switched to the singles portion, NU’s woes on the court continued as the team dropped its first three matches, giving the Ducks the decisive 4-0 victory.
In their second match of the weekend, the ‘Cats bounced back tremendously, beating No. 8 Duke 4-3 in front of their fans at Combe Tennis Center Sunday — but the victory didn’t come easily for NU.
The ‘Cats came out of the gates hot against the Blue Devils, as Blekher and Nordby took down Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas 6-4 on Court 1, and Miller and Goli defeated Faris Khan and Connor Krug 6-4 on Court 3.
After garnering an early 1-0 lead, NU continued its scorching hot start in the singles portion of the match as the ‘Cats won the first two matches against Duke, featuring a commanding win from Nordby, who defeated Andrew Dale in two sets with scores of 6-3 and 6-2.
However, things turned sideways quickly for the hosts as they dropped two consecutive matches, tying the contest at 3-3 and setting up a clash between Goli and Krug on Court 3 for the decisive point.
Goli faced adversity in the match as he lost the first set 7-6, but quickly bounced back and took the second set with a pivotal 6-2 victory. In the third set, Goli and Krug went toe-to-toe, but the former managed to pull away with a 7-6 victory to hand ‘Cats the match point for a thrilling upset win over Duke.
In their third match of the weekend and in the final part of a Sunday doubleheader, NU hosted UIC and maintained momentum from the team’s victory over Duke, defeating the Flames 4-1.
The ‘Cats found the frontfoot once more as Miller and Goli defeated Randy Wilson and Artem Iermolov 6-1 on Court 3, and Casey and Theineman beat Robinson LeMeur and Aleksa Bucan 6-3 on Court 2.
NU carried its success from doubles into the singles portion. Theineman was the first Wildcat to get in the win column during singles as he defeated Bucan in two sets in dominating fashion, winning the first set 6-0 and the second set 6-1. NU then got a second singles victory from Blekher as he easily defeated Wilson with scores of 6-0 in the first set and 6-2 in the second set.
Following Blekher’s win, the ‘Cats dropped Court 3 in their lone singles loss but were able to secure the match victory as Miller defeated Mihailo Savic in a close two-set battle with scores of 6-4 in the first set and 6-3 in the second set.
The ‘Cats will look to secure their third consecutive victory on Friday night when they host Alabama at the Combe Tennis Center.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @JacobKHare
Related Stories:
—Men’s Tennis: Northwestern splits results at ITA Kickoff Tournament
—Men’s Tennis: Northwestern comes up winless against Memphis, Louisville
—Men’s Tennis: Northwestern falls to No. 21 NC State in season opener
