Junior Neena Feldman and sophomore Mika Dagan Fruchtman came within a set of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament doubles draw but fell agonizingly short in the final of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships.
Northwestern men’s and women’s tennis visited DePaul and Illinois, respectively, this weekend as they both competed in ITA Midwest Regionals.
Feldman and Dagan Fruchtman saw success in the doubles bracket as they stormed through to the final. The pair advanced through the first two rounds easily, defeating Sophia Shlyakhta and Sydney Paradise of Northern Illinois 8-1 and Frida Weijerman and Marielou Baudouin of Western Michigan 8-5.
In the round of 16, they faced the No. 3 seeds, Hephzibah Oluwadare and Nao Nishino of Ohio State, who they ousted in a tight 8-7(6) match.
In the quarterfinals, they beat Tianna Rangan and Kaede Usui of Wisconsin 8-6. The semifinals brought another challenge, as the Wildcat duo beat Alice Xu and Tess Bucher of Illinois by a score of 6-2, 4-6, 10-8.
Their journey came to an end as they faced Bojana Pozder and Bianca Molnar of Notre Dame. The ’Cats got off to a strong start as they won the first set with ease, but the duo from Notre Dame came back and won by a score of 1-6, 6-3, 10-5. Feldman and Dagan Fruchtman won four more total points in the match than their opponents, compounding the heartbreak.
The pair may have another chance to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in the ITA Sectionals in two weeks.
Sophomore Maia Loureiro and freshman Marelie Raath also had a successful tournament, as they reached the round of 16 by defeating the No. 7-seeded pair Audrey Spencer and Alessia Cau of Ohio State and Sabrina Tolstova and Matilde Parreira of Eastern Michigan. In the round of 16, they fell to the No. 9 seeds, Ellison Reynoldson and Ekaterina Ivanova of Wisconsin, 8-1.
Sophomore Erica Jessel and freshman Margot Phanthala also competed as a pair, winning their first match 8-1 against Malika Kabdesh and Nataly Ninova of Northern Illinois. They then faced the draw’s top seeds in Lily Jones and Jessica Bernales of Michigan and fell in a close match by a score of 8-6.
The final NU duo in the doubles draw, junior Autumn Rabjohns and junior Katya Shepherd Johnson also won a match, defeating Parker Christensen and Maya Bordereau of Wisconsin. Rabjohns and Shepherd Johnson were then swiftly defeated by Hannah Smith and Clara Nilsson of DePaul by 8-3.
The women didn’t have quite as much success in singles. Loureiro was the only Wildcat to advance past the second round after defeating Lara Diaz Zayas of Eastern Michigan and Lucie Urbanova of Wisconsin. In the third round, she faced No. 2-seeded Emily Sartz-Lunde and lost 6-0, 6-3.
Jessel also competed in the singles draw but lost her first round match to Ariel Madatali of Illinois 6-3, 7-5. Dagan Fruchtman lost to Michigan’s Gabriella Lindgren in a three-set battle by a score of 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Rabjohns advanced to the second round by defeating Konstantina Adamopoulou, but was then defeated by Rangan.
Phanthala, coming off a top-10 singles win last weekend, won her first match against Ohio State’s Flora Johnson, before No. 6-seeded Reese Miller of Michigan defeated her 6-1, 6-4. Raath faced Smith in the first round and won 6-1, 7-6(7) before playing a tough three-setter against Amara Brahmbhatt and losing 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Feldman also won her first singles match, defeating Stefaniya Anikina of Southern Illinois, before falling to Oluwadare in the second round.
Five members of the Northwestern men’s team competed at DePaul. In singles, junior transfer Cyrus Mahjoob was the only member to advance past the first round, defeating Tim Riedel of Western Michigan 6-4, 6-4. He then came back from a 6-1 deficit to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round and upset the third seed, Alexander Bernard of Ohio State. His journey ended when he faced Notre Dame’s Chase Thompson, who beat him 6-3, 6-2.
Freshman Ethan Schiffman played Sasha Colleu of Illinois and lost a tight three-setter 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. Senior Chad Miller fell to Ferdinand Kloesters of Wisconsin 6-3, 6-4, while junior Greyson Casey fell to Simon Knezevic of UIC 7-5, 6-1.
In doubles, Miller and Casey won their first round match against Christian Capacci and Manuel Pavia of Illinois State 8-4 but then lost to Drew Evans and Tim Riedel of Western Michigan 8-5. Schiffman partnered junior transfer Dylan Charlap. The pair lost its first round match 8-6.
The men will compete in the Big Ten Championships beginning Oct. 30, while the women look ahead to the ITA Central Sectional Tournament, which begins Nov. 6.
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Twitter: @mayaheyman
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