Eagles blanked in back-to-back matches

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – While the Eagles scored points in their fifth match of the season, Northwestern lost back-to-back battles with Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Lawrence University on Saturday. Eau Claire, who hosted both matches in a triangular, bested the Eagles 8-1 before Lawrence sent NWC back to St. Paul with a 9-0 loss.

Against Eau Claire, the 13th-best team the region, Northwestern's Jeremiah Schneck (Faribault, Minn./Faribault) (Faribault, Minn./Faribault) gutted out a 7-6 victory in the first set before losing the second set 1-6. Schneck pulled out the victory for the Eagles, besting Matt Hambidge 10-7 in the tiebreaker.

Northwestern's No. 1 doubles team in Caleb Kauss (St. Paul, Minn./Harding) (St. Paul, Minn./Harding) and Keagen Blancke (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) came close to a victory, but had to settle for an 8-6 score against their opponents from Eau Claire.

Versus Lawrence, Blancke lost a third-set tiebreaker 7-2 to Caleb Ray in the No. 2 singles match after initially winning the first set 6-2. Joshua Fread (Minneapolis, Minn./Osseo) nearly gutted out his first individual win of the season, but Lawrence's Cooper Smith held the final upper hand, 6-2, 1-6, 10-7.

Schneck and Blancke took their No. 1 doubles match to extra innings before losing 9-8 (10-8).

At 0-6 in the 2010 campaign, Northwestern is looking towards a change of scenery as the Eagles will depart for their annual spring break trip on Thursday, March 4. NWC will play five matches in Hilton Head, S.C., hoping to come back to Minnesota victorious before beginning UMAC conference action on March 26 versus the College of St. Scholastica.

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