Northwestern men’s and women’s tennis sent representatives to Michigan this weekend for the Hope RSM Invite and Michigan State Classic, respectively.
On the men’s side, junior Owen Megargee and freshman Jacob Golden competed together in doubles Friday, where they lost 6-2 to the eventual tournament champions, Michigan’s duo of Bjorn Swenson and Nicholas Steiglehner. Megargee and Golden followed that up with a 7-6 (3) loss to Western Michigan’s Ashton Adesoro and Dimitri Moriarty.
Sophomore teammates Carter Pate and Vincent Yang won 6-3 against Western Michigan’s Alex Antonopoulos and Chen-Hui (Lucas) Ho. Pate and Yang continued their strong start by defeating Wisconsin’s Ferdinand Kloesters and Sachiv Kumar 6-2.
In singles on Friday, Swenson beat Megargee 6-1, 6-0 and Steiglehner beat Golden 6-4, 6-4. Pate beat Antonopoulos in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, to finish undefeated on the day, while Yang lost to Ho 2-6, 7-6 (1), 10-8. Overall, the Wildcats went 3-5 on the day. Michigan proved to be their strongest opponent, as they lost all four matches against Swenson and Steiglehner.
On Saturday, Megargee was forced to retire from his singles match against Adesoro, ending his tournament early. Golden beat Moriarty 2-6, 6-4, 10-8, avenging his doubles defeat. Pate continued his strong tournament by beating Kloesters 6-3, 5-7, 10-7, while Yang lost to Kumar in a close match, 3-6, 7-6(3), 10-6.
Michigan continued to dominate the ’Cats later that day, bringing Pate’s undefeated tournament to an end as he and Yang lost to Wolverines’ duo Mert Oral and Arnav Bhandari. Oral and Bhandari would later lose to Swenson and Steiglehner in the finals. Despite the doubles loss, Pate was able to continue his strong weekend by beating Oral 6-3, 7-5 in singles. Yang lost another close match, this time to Bhandari, 5-7, 6-4, 11-9.
Golden had planned on taking on Notre Dame’s Evan Lee in his lone match on Saturday. However, Lee withdrew due to injury. This, combined with Megargee’s injury, led Golden to partner with Lee’s original partner, Notre Dame’s Giuseppe Cerasuolo. The two would lose 6-2 to Pate and Yang on Sunday.
In singles, Golden lost in three sets to Ho, 3-6, 6-2, 10-7. Yang lost to Purdue’s Stefan Simeunovic 7-6(1), 6-4 to end the tournament for the men’s side. The team finished 7-11 including the one retirement, as well as playing one intra-squad match.
On the women’s side, freshman Marelie Raath and sophomore Maia Loureiro represented the ’Cats. On Friday, Raath won her match 6-2, 6-4 against DePaul’s Sasha Stula, and Loureiro defeated Michigan’s Bayley Sheinin 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
Raath and Loureiro continued to succeed Saturday, going 3-1 on the day. The pair won both of their doubles matches against DePaul. They first dominated Clara Nilsson and Hannah Smith 6-2 before winning 7-5 against Stula and her partner Helin Alvarez.
Loureiro beat Smith 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in her singles match, leaving the Wildcats with a 4-0 record against DePaul through two days. Michigan continued to have the ’Cats’ number, however, as Gabriella Lindgren triumphed over Raath 6-4, 6-1.
On Sunday, Loureiro and Raath switched opponents, with Loureiro taking on Lindgren and Raath facing off against Smith. However, both players fell, ending their tournament early. Loureiro fell in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, and Raath lost in a three-set battle, 3-6, 6-0, 7-5.
The men’s team returns to action next weekend at the 68th Annual Intercollegiate, while the women’s team heads back to Michigan for the Michigan Invite.
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