OWATONNA, Minn. – University of Northwestern Men's Tennis took on Wartburg College and Morningside University on Saturday in a pair of non-conference matches. The Eagles fell in a close 5-4 battle against the Knights in the morning before later falling 6-3 to the Mustangs.
Match One: Wartburg College Knights
In the opening match, the Knights took a 2-1 lead in the doubles contests.
Stewart Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) and
Jacob Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) won #2 doubles 8-6 for the Eagles, but UNW trailed by one point entering singles.
The Eagles and Knights split the singles matches evenly. Weddle took #2 singles 6-4, 6-2 for UNW.
Davis Pfaff (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) earned a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) victory at #3 singles.
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) earned a fourth team point for Northwestern by rallying for a hard-fought 3-6, 7-5, (10-8) tiebreaker win at #5 singles, but Wartburg took the other three singles matches to just barely clinch the 5-4 team victory.
Match Two: Morningside University Mustangs
In the match against Morningside in the evening, the Mustangs jumped ahead 2-1 in doubles. Once again, the duo of Morrell and Weddle earned a team point for UNW at #2 doubles, this time earning an 8-7 (8-6) victory.
Trailing 2-1 entering singles, the Eagles needed to win four of six singles matches to take the match. UNW earned a point at #3 singles as Pfaff rallied to win 2-6, 6-2, (11-9).
Andy Stevenson (Fridley, Minn./Fridley) earned a third team point for Northwestern with a 6-2, 4-6, (12-10) tiebreaker victory at #6 singles, but Morningside took the other four singles matches to win the contest 6-3.
Up next
Northwestern will take on Saint John's University on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m. in Sartell at Sta Fit.
