After sophomore Greyson Casey’s opponent hit a shot out on match point, capping off a doubleheader for Northwestern, Casey turned left toward his array of nine teammates.
He enacted a sweeping motion to celebrate his win that granted the Wildcats (4-5, 0-0 Big Ten) their second 7-0 victory of the day.
NU did not drop a point in its two matches, defeating both Illinois State and IU Indianapolis 7-0 Saturday. The ’Cats swept two opponents 7-0 on the same day for the first time since March 8, 2015, when they defeated both Purdue and Western Illinois.
With its pair of victories, NU snapped a five-match losing streak.
“(It’s) really important to get back in the win column, and I think we’ve improved a lot,” coach Arvid Swan said.
The first serve against the Redbirds (3-7, 0-0 Summit) came at noon, and the doubles point was immediately closely contested. Each of the three doubles matches jumped out to a 2-2 scoreline and reached a 5-4 scoreline.
While down 3-4, the No. 3 pairing of freshmen Carter Pate and Vincent Yang held from 15-40, saving three break points. From that moment on, they did not lose a game. At 5-4, 40-15, Pate served an ace to solidify the win for the young duo.
At the No. 1 slot, graduate student Saiprakash Goli and junior Chad Miller overcame a 5-2 deficit to win 7-5 after Goli served out the set successfully. The win granted the ’Cats the doubles point.
“They don’t give up, which is great,” Swan said. “Both fight really hard. I thought they did a really good job coming back, we can’t get in holes like we did today.”
NU’s No. 2 team of Casey and senior Felix Nordby had their match unfinished down 3-2 in the set’s tiebreak.
Swan said he was more happy with the team’s singles performance than its doubles performance. The ’Cats only dropped one first set in singles play.
Senior Max Bengtsson, playing at the No. 5 position, quickly defeated his opponent 6-0, 6-0 for NU’s second point of the afternoon affair.
“I just felt really solid,” Bengtsson said. “I didn’t really make many mistakes in that match at all. My forehand has been feeling really good. I feel like I’ve been hitting it well. (I’ve been) working on the wide serve, which I think has been helpful getting guys on the run early and then kind of finishing off some points.”
No. 3 Nordby was next to complete his match, which he won 6-1, 7-5. Soon, No. 6 Miller clinched the match for NU with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Although the match had been guaranteed in the ’Cats’ favor, play continued.
With a 6-1, 6-4 triumph, Goli won his first career match at No. 1 singles. No. 2 Casey defeated his opponent 6-4, 7-5, and No. 4 Pate came back from down a set to win 6(6)-7, 6-1, [10-4].
A little over three hours later, NU returned to the court to take on the Jaguars (4-5, 0-0 Horizon). The doubles point proved more difficult to obtain in this afternoon’s match.
At the No. 3 position, Pate and Yang lost 6-1.
Now at the No. 1 doubles slot, Nordby and Casey’s match remained neck-and-neck until the duo broke serve at 5-5 and served out the match to win 7-5, punctuated by an unreturnable serve by Nordby on match point.
A court over at the No. 2 spot, Goli and Miller sunk into a 4-0 hole. Yet, they found a way to outdo their earlier comeback performance. Six straight games went their way for a 6-4 triumph, granting the ’Cats the doubles point just 18 seconds after Nordby and Casey won their match.
“We’ve known each other for awhile, and we have a lot of good chemistry,” Miller said. “This evening match, we weren’t playing great at the start but just stayed with it, kept bringing the energy. I think we’re always playing really well when our energy’s great.”
Miller’s momentum carried over to singles for a 6-1, 6-1 win at the No. 5 position. It marked the fewest games he has dropped in a match during his career.
Pate, stepping up to the No. 3 slot due to Goli’s absence from singles, won 6-2, 6-2. The match was clinched by No. 2 Nordby with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Nordby’s performance granted him his team-best sixth singles victory of the season.
Each remaining match completed play.
No. 4 Bengsston registered a 6-3, 6-0 win, dropping just three games all day. He was followed by No. 6 sophomore Jackson Caldwell, who recorded his first career singles win 6-3, 6-2. No. 1 Casey completed the sweep with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph.
“We’ve been trying to play out as many matches as we can,” Swan said. “At least early in the season, I feel like it’s been very important to get the guys experience playing out entire matches. … Guys gain confidence from winning matches, so that’s why I wanted to play them out today.”
NU returns to Combe Tennis Center on Friday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. for a tilt with Memphis.
Email: charliespungin2027@u.northwestern.edu
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— Men’s Tennis: Northwestern drops weekend matches against No. 24 Harvard, No. 7 Duke
— Men’s Tennis: Casey leads Northwestern to two victories as dual season kicks off
