Penn State entered Evanston having won just one doubles point in its nine Big Ten matches.
After the teams split the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles matches, Northwestern needed graduate student Saiprakash Goli and sophomore Greyson Casey to overcome their break deficit to win the doubles point. After they saved two match points at 3-5, a comeback seemed feasible, but in the ensuing game, Casey hit a backhand into the net on the third match point.
As a result, the visitors jumped out to a 1-0 lead, as coach Arvid Swan’s squad lost its seventh straight Big Ten doubles point, dating back to March 14 in Indiana.
Despite having hopes of notching their first conference win with the momentum garnered from winning the doubles point, the Nittany Lions (12-12, 0-10 Big Ten) lost control of the match as the No. 67-ranked Wildcats (12-13, 4-6 Big Ten) won five singles first sets. NU maintained its grip on the match en route to a 4-1 triumph, snapping a five-match losing streak against Big Ten opponents.
“Scores were pretty decisive (in singles), especially first sets,” Swan said. “That was a big goal of ours — to get up after losing the doubles point. Get up big in singles, which we did. We can play singles with anybody, and we just have to keep working on improving the doubles. But singles, we can line up with anyone.”
On the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles courts, the ’Cats fell into break deficits, while at the No. 1 position, senior Felix Nordby and junior Chad Miller broke their opponents at 1-1 and never lost the advantage.
Nordby and Miller capped off their match with a 6-4 win after an opponent volley landed long. Moments before that, however, senior Max Bengtsson and freshman Vincent Yang lost 6-3 at the No. 3 slot.
Goli and Casey, playing at the No. 2 position, sought to capture NU’s first doubles point in nearly a month but were unable to do so.
“Doubles wasn’t where we needed it to be today,” Swan said. “We’ve been very good at (No.) 1. We’ve got to figure out (No.) 2 and (No.) 3.”
Nordby and Miller have won six doubles matches together this season, the most by any combination Swan has put together this season.
The ’Cats quickly asserted themselves in singles, as No. 4 Bengtsson, No. 5 Miller and No. 6 Yang each captured their first sets within minutes of each other with 6-2, 6-4 and 6-2 wins, respectively.
Meanwhile, the top half of the ’Cats’ singles lineup weren’t as successful. No. 1 Goli’s set had a multitude of lengthy games. No. 3 Casey’s match had a break of serve in each of the first five games. Meanwhile, No. 2 Nordby, the team’s leader in singles wins, fell into a 5-1 deficit.
Goli’s break at 2-3 gave him a large enough advantage in the first set to ultimately capture it 6-3 after holding serve from 5-3, 15-40. Nordby, at the same time, raced back from his 5-1 deficit to the tune of winning six straight games to win his first set 7-5.
“There were some just sloppy mistakes in the beginning of the games after I got broke at 2-1, and I kind of just lost focus a little,” Nordby said. “I just played the same game, kept missing … Of course, I was prepared to lose the first set after being down 5-1, but as I got going, broke to 5-2 and held to 5-3, I kept going for it.”
Casey was the lone NU player to lose his first set, falling 7-6(5).
Bengtsson was the first to close out his match, registering a 6-2, 6-2 win. Swan called the senior one of the better No. 4 singles players in the Big Ten. Nordby, with his flurry of momentum, fired three consecutive forehand winners to close out his match 7-5, 6-2.
“He’s done that several times this year where he’s been down in a first set and come back and won and then won decisively in a second set,” Swan said. “He’s just a really good player.”
Yang snapped a five-match losing streak with a 6-2, 6-3 win, giving the ’Cats a 3-1 lead. At this juncture, Goli held a 6-3, 3-2 lead in a tight second set. Miller was set to enter a third set after dropping his second set 6-4, while Casey trailed 7-6(5), 1-0.
Goli, playing in his penultimate match in Combe Tennis Center with his teammates watching on from one court to his left, went on to clinch the match for NU. At 3-3, 40-40, Goli captured a break and ultimately served out the second set at 5-4 by holding at love. Goli’s 6-3, 6-4 triumph ended the Nittany Lions’ aspiration for a Big Ten victory in Evanston.
“I knew that if I just kept on returning well, playing aggressive every single point and trying to play my game, I knew that I would eventually come on top,” Goli said.
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