More tennis still to play
No. 70 Northwestern men’s tennis (10-18, 3-6 B1G) ended its conference season with a drubbing at the hands of No. 26 Michigan (16-12, 8-1 B1G) in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals after beating Wisconsin (1-22, 0-9 B1G) in the first round.
Last Thursday afternoon, Northwestern faced off against Wisconsin here in Evanston, which was hosting the entirety of the tournament. The Badgers came in on a horrific run, having lost 13 straight matches since their lone win of the season. They also arrived at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center without the requisite number of healthy players and were forced to forfeit the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches.
Northwestern ruthlessly punished its shorthanded opponents, with No. 2 pairing Greyson Casey and Presley Thieneman winning their set 6-1 and clinching the doubles point. The two forfeits meant that victory alone put NU 2-0 up on the day.
Head Coach Arvid Swan said he thought it was the best doubles match Casey and Thieneman had played all season.
“I thought they were cleaning up at net,” he said. “They were very aggressive in terms of their movement at net, and I thought they both returned extremely well.”
He added that it was “tricky” to handle the unique situation of facing a team without enough players.
“We’re up 2-0, but the five guys they put on court are quite good quality players, so we knew we just had to really focus to get those last two points,” Swan said.
Four of the five singles first sets went the ‘Cats way, and while Thieneman at No. 1 and Gleb Blekher at No. 2 began facing strong resistance in the second, those matches proved ultimately irrelevant to the final score.
No. 4 Felix Norby beat Matthew Fullerton 6-3, 6-2, and No. 3 Saiprakash Goli clinched the overall win, taking his match 6-1, 6-4. Sandwiched between those results was a 6-4, 6-2 loss for No. 5 Max Bengtsson to the big-serving Collin Bedhun, which meant the final score on the day was 4-1 in the ‘Cats’ favor.
Looking ahead to the impending quarterfinal against Michigan, Swan said he thought the team was playing much better than when the two sides previously faced off in a 4-0 Michigan win.
“The team has taken a jump over the last 10 days,” he said. “I just feel like we’re playing better and everyone is understanding their role.”
The next day, Northwestern was back indoors at the Combe Tennis Center to face No. 26 Michigan, which boasts a top-20 singles player in the country in Gavin Young.
Casey’s usual spot partnering Thieneman at No. 2 doubles was taken by freshman Owen Megargee, who was making just his third appearance in college tennis. Thieneman and Megargee lost 6-1, and Jackson Caldwell and Nick Herdoiza lost 6-2 at the No. 3 spot, giving Michigan the doubles point.
The singles was similarly one-sided, with the Wolverines taking all six first sets, despite No. 2 Gleb Blekher serving for the set in his match. Within the space of five minutes, Michigan got all three clinches it needed to end the match.
Nicolas Steiglehner cruised by Herdoiza 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot. Young beat Thieneman by the same scoreline at No. 1, and Patorn Hanchaikul’s 6-2, 6-4 victory over Nordby at No. 4 sealed the deal.
The season looked to be over at that point for a Northwestern team that finished well below .500 a year after making a run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After losing its top four singles players from that tournament appearance, it was always going to be a tough task to replicate that success.
However, the ‘Cats still have more tennis to play after they received an invitation to the UTR Sports NIT Championship. Northwestern will be the No. 5 seed in an eight-team tournament, beginning against No. 4 seed Santa Clara in the quarterfinals this Sunday. After a disappointing conference tournament, men’s tennis will be looking to end the season on a high.