Northwestern nearly rallied back from a 3-0 deficit but fell narrowly short in a deciding match, third-set tiebreak against Memphis Friday.
At a packed Combe Tennis Center, a raucous, late-night crowd energized the Wildcats (4-7, 0-0 Big Ten) towards a potential comeback, but the Tigers (7-7, 1-0 AAC) weathered the storm and escaped with a 4-3 victory.
NU failed to gain a foothold early on, dropping the doubles point. The No. 1 pairing of sophomore Greyson Casey and senior Felix Nordby lost 6-4, while the No. 2 pairing of graduate student Saiprakash Goli and junior Chad Miller lost 6-3.
“We need to have better production in doubles. I mean that’s obvious,” coach Arvid Swan said post-match.
In singles, the ’Cats won just two of six first sets, meaning they needed to come back from a set down in at least two matches. To make matters worse, the first two matches to finish each went the Tigers’ way. Miller lost 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 and Casey lost 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2.
Senior No. 5 Max Bengtsson put NU on the board with a 6-4, 7-5 victory — after a tight second set, Bengtsson broke at 5-5 and closed out the match with a service winner at 6-5, deuce. Yet, the other Wildcat who had won his first set, freshman No. 4 Carter Pate, dropped the second set in a tiebreak.
As Pate entered a third set, NU began to turn the tide on the other two remaining courts — Goli at No. 1 and Nordby at No. 3 each won their second sets.
While the ’Cats began to mount a comeback, the atmosphere at Combe Tennis Center grew increasingly rowdy. So rowdy, in fact, that a group of spectators was asked by an ITA official to stop distracting Memphis, while an umpire reminded NU’s contingent of players watching the remaining matches not to direct chants toward their opponents.
After nine consecutive holds to open the third set between Pate and Memphis’ Harry Rock, the freshman gained traction in Rock’s fifth service game. A picture-perfect two-shot pass from Pate on the first point of the game paved the way for a pair of Rock forehand unforced errors.
Holding three match points at 15-40, Pate hit an angled crosscourt forehand slice return that Rock could only stretch to hit in the net, clinching the match and NU’s second point.
“He’s really starting to put it together,” Swan said of Pate. “This is just the start for this kid. He’s gonna be unbelievable.”
At the point of Pate’s victory, Nordby trailed 3-2, on serve, while Goli led 3-2, up a break. Nordby got to deuce in three of his first four return games of the set, but Memphis’ Michael Kouame stood firm, consistently saving break points with big serves.
“He was serving pretty good in the beginning of the third,” Nordby said. “I just tried to stay aggressive, because, at the end of the day, he’s more nervous when he’s down in his serve than I am.”
Serving at 4-4, 0-15, Kouame hit a crosscourt forehand approach near the baseline and came in, but dumped a forehand volley in the net. However, Kouame argued that a group of spectators had imitated an “out” call on his forehand, and the umpire agreed, awarding the Memphis freshman a spectator point penalty. Swan and his coaching staff raced to the chair to contest the call, but to no avail.
Nordby put the controversy behind him and set up two break points at 30-40. On the first break chance, the Norwegian chipped and charged with a backhand slice and forced Kouame’s one-handed backhand to crack under pressure — as the Memphis No. 3’s attempted passing shot sailed long, Nordby let out an emphatic fist pump and sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
“[Do] not even think one second about it,” Nordby said of how he recovered from the point penalty. “Because if you do, then you start to get in your head.”
As that scene was unfolding, Goli stepped to the line to serve for his match at 5-4 in the third set. However, a series of loose points culminated in an inside-out forehand unforced error at 30-40 to hand Memphis No. 1 Conor Gannon the break back.
Nordby had more success serving his match out. At 5-4, 40-15, a Kouame forehand sailed long and clinched a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win for Nordby that leveled the score on the day at 3-3.
After Nordby finished, Goli held at 5-6 with a crosscourt backhand winner to force a tiebreak. With the match on the line, Gannon found his very best tennis, using big serving and astute charging of the net to jump out to a 5-0 lead. At 6-1, Gannon fired a first serve up the tee that forced Goli to net a forehand, sealing a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1) win and a 4-3 triumph for Memphis.
Despite the loss and the disappointment that came with it, Swan said he was proud of his team.
“I feel like we’re on the cusp of really beating some good teams,” Swan said. “We’re a significantly better team from when we started the season.”
Email: elikronenberg2027@u.northwestern.edu
X : @EliKronenberg
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