Northwestern had an opportunity to seek revenge against No. 8 Harvard after a 4-0 loss at the ITA Kickoff on Jan. 28 as the team traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to take on the Ivy League foe Sunday afternoon.
However, things weren’t any different the second time around as the Wildcats (5-9, 0-0 Big Ten) had an identical result to their earlier season loss to the Crimson (9-4, 0-0 Ivy League), falling 4-0 to Harvard once again.
NU came out of the gates sluggish, which the Crimson swiftly capitalized on as they nabbed a 1-0 lead in the doubles round.
All three of the visitors’ doubles matches began with a common theme: the ‘Cats couldn’t handle Harvard’s scorching starts, which became too difficult for coach Arvid Swan’s squad to overcome.
NU’s lack of success from the doubles contests bled into the rest of the match, as the Crimson won the first three courts, clinching the 4-0 win.
Even though the final score didn’t reflect it, there were some encouraging moments for the ‘Cats, including junior Felix Nordby’s play.
In his singles match against Harvard’s Ronan Jachuck, Nordby was brilliant in the first set, earning a 6-4 victory. Nordby followed that up with a strong second set as he went toe-to-toe with Jachuck. The match was stopped when Nordby was down 5-4 in the second set, as Daniel Milavasky clinched the winning point for Harvard by defeating senior Saiprakash Goli in two sets with scores of 6-4 and 6-4.
The ‘Cats will look to bounce back from their disappointing defeat Friday night when they take on their second consecutive Ivy League opponent, hosting Columbia at the Combe Tennis Center.
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Twitter: @JacobKHare
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