Northwestern embarked on its quest for a UTR Sports NIT Championship Sunday against fourth-seeded Santa Clara in the tournament’s quarterfinals in Bradenton, Florida.
However, the Wildcats (10-19, 3-6 Big Ten) failed to find momentum against the Broncos (19-7, 4-4 WCC), dropping the match 4-2 and concluding their season at IMG Academy.
From the match’s outset, Santa Clara asserted its dominance over NU. The Broncos came out firing on all cylinders in the doubles portion, nabbing a 1-0 lead.
The Broncos claimed wins on courts No. 1 and No. 3. On the No. 1 court, Santa Clara’s top doubles pair, Guillaume Dalmasso and Christian Lerby, edged out senior Gleb Blekher and junior Felix Nordby in a 6-4 finish.
On court No. 3, the Broncos’ third doubles team, Sebastian Buxman and Arjun Honnappa, claimed a narrow 6-3 victory over freshmen Nick Herdoiza and Jackson Caldwell.
Once the match transitioned to singles, the ’Cats’ struggles continued, with coach Arvid Swan’s squad securing only two singles points.
The Broncos clinched the match point on the No. 2 singles court, where Dalmasso defeated Blekher 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Although it didn’t impact the final score, senior Presley Thieneman secured a close 6-4 victory over Santa Clara’s top singles player. He followed that up by decisively defeating Lerby 6-2 in the second set, clinching the singles victory.
With the NU defeat, the ’Cats have concluded their 2024 campaign. With No. 1 Thieneman and No. 2 Blekher graduating as seniors, Swan will now use the offseason to retool his roster, aiming to guide NU back to the NCAA tournament after the team failed to qualify this year.
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