The Wildcats gain momentum in the regular season finale ahead of Big Ten Championships.
There was relative optimism coming into what appeared to be an even match against the No. 70 Indiana Hoosiers, as the No. 69 Northwestern men’s tennis team took the court as the higher-ranked opponent, albeit just slightly.
This was despite Indiana coming in with a record of 15-9 and 3-4 in the Big Ten, while the Wildcats sat at 8-16 and 2-6 in the conference. Unfortunately for Northwestern, Indiana proved to be just as good as its record indicated, as the Wildcats fell 4-1.
For the fourth consecutive match, the Wildcats failed to capture the doubles point. The Indiana duos of Jagger Saylor and Ilya Tiraspolsky at No. 1 doubles, and Facundo Yunis and Luc Bouiler at No. 3 doubles easily captured match victories. Saylor and Tiraspolsky defeated Northwestern’s No. 50 nationally-ranked duo of Felix Nordby and Gleb Blekher 6-2, while Yunis and Boulier won their match 6-3.
The Wildcats would take the first singles point of the day, with No. 4 Nordby playing a superb match against Indiana’s Nikola Kolyachev. The contest was never in doubt, as Nordby took it 6-1, 6-1.
“He’s been good all year, but he’s developed a lot as a player,” said Northwestern men’s tennis coach Arvid Swan. “His forehand is a really big weapon for him at this point and he’s competing at a high level. Even the matches he’s lost, he’s had opportunities to win, and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. He dictated throughout the match today.”
Despite Nordby’s performance, the rest of the match would prove to be unkind to his fellow Wildcats, as one-by-one they began to fall.
First, Yunis beat No. 2 Blekher 6-2, 6-2. Next to finish was Tiraspolsky against NU’s No. 5 Max Bengtsson. Tiraspolsky would take that match, also 6-2, 6-2. Shortly after, Indiana closed the door on the Wildcats, with the Hoosiers taking yet another straight sets victory, as Saylor defeated No. 3 Saiprakash Goli 6-4, 6-1.
The remaining two matches went unfinished just before heading to the third sets. One of the matches, however, included a notable performance from Northwestern’s Presley Thieneman, managing to take a set against the No. 90 nationally-ranked player Sam Landau.
Senior day success
As soon as the match against Indiana ended, the focus shifted to Purdue and Northwestern’s senior day. It also turned out to be the first outdoor match of the season on a sunny Evanston day. Whether it was additional practice, the boost of dopamine to the player’s systems or both, something clicked for the Wildcats.
They finally broke their doubles schneid, just a couple of days after Swan said he’d put extra practice time into it after losing to Indiana.
The No. 1 pairing of Nordby and Blekher breezed by Purdue’s Juan David Velasquez and Daniel Labrador 6-1. The Boilermakers would even things up at No. 2 doubles with Stefan Simeunovic and Henrik Villanger beating NU’s duo of Thieneman and Casey 6-3. But it would be Northwestern’s No. 3 pairing of Nick Herdoiza and Jackson Caldwell — just their second doubles match together — playing hero for the Wildcats, beating Soham Purohit and Mujtaba Ali-Khan 6-4.
Herdoiza carried his momentum into singles, where he converted his opportunity to play into a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 6 spot, beating Purdue’s Hassan Baroudi. But, once again, the Boilermakers battled back, with Purohit getting the better of No. 2 Blekher 6-4, 6-3.
This marked the end of the Boilermakers’ challenge, as the Wildcats quickly took things from 2-1 to 4-1 with a pair of match wins by Thieneman and Bengtsson. Thieneman, one of the celebrated seniors alongside Blekher, took No. 1 singles over Simeunovic 6-2, 7-6(4), while No. 5 Bengtsson beat Ali-Khan 7-6(3), 6-0, after a dominant second set.
The teams would choose to play the match out on senior day, taking advantage of two matches near completion and the nice weather. Nordby continued his winning ways, defeating Labrador 7-5, 6-4. Meanwhile, Goli took a close loss, falling to David Velasquez, who won 6-3, 6(5)-7, 1-0(7) after a tiebreaker was played in place of a third set.
The victory was a nice way to honor the careers of two outgoing players, who have both seen great success as Wildcats.
“They’re just winners,” Swan said of Thieneman and Blekher. “We’ve won a lot with those guys on the team. They came in as freshmen and were contributing right away to teams that were top 15 in the country. They’ve contributed throughout their careers in a very meaningful way.
They’re guys that have really embraced hard work and competitiveness. These guys do that on a daily basis. I’m going to miss coaching them…a lot and I’m going to greatly miss having them on the team.”
While Thieneman and Blekher have played their last regular season matches as Wildcats, they will still have one more opportunity to don Northwestern colors at home, as Combe Tennis Center hosts the men’s Big Ten Championships. The team’s opening match takes place Apr. 25 at 2 p.m. CT against the No. 10 seed Wisconsin.