ORLANDO, Fla. – University of Northwestern Men's Tennis took on Covenant College and King's College on Monday for the first two of five matches in Florida this week. The Eagles fell 9-0 to the Scots in the opener, but later earned a 7-2 win over the Monarchs.
Match One: Covenant College Scots
UNW struggled in the first match against Covenant in the morning. The Eagles fell behind 3-0 in doubles, with the closest match being a narrow 8-7 (7-4) tiebreaker loss in the #2 match.
The singles matches went the way of the Scots as well. The #1 and #2 matches were both settled in tiebreakers. The Eagles took the opening set in both matches, but the Scots rallied each time to take set two and the tiebreaker.
Match Two: King's College Monarchs
Northwestern bounced back from their morning loss to the Scots with a strong team win in the evening match against King's.
Collin Hemann (Newton, Iowa/Newton) and
Andy Stevenson (Fridley, Minn./Fridley) teamed up for an 8-5 win at #2 doubles.
Ben Schutz (Maplewood, Minn./Homeschool) and
Eli Henderson (Andover, Minn/Andover) took an 8-7 (7-5) tiebreaker win in the #3 match. The Monarchs took the #1 match 8-4 to avoid a double sweep, but the Eagles nonetheless entered singles play up 2-1.
In singles, the Eagles took five of the six matches to secure the team win.
Stewart Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) led the way at #1 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win by sweep. The Monarchs took the #2 match, staying just one point behind UNW at 3-2. The Eagles, however, would go on to win the #3, #4, #5, and #6 matches to cruise to a 7-2 team win over King's.
Davis Pfaff (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) took #3 singles 6-1, 6-1.
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) won his #4 match 6-1, 6-0.
Darin Rupp (Sioux Falls, S.D./Roosevelt) earned a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the #4 singles match.
Andy Stevenson (Fridley, Minn./Fridley) closed out the singles matches with a 6-1, 6-1 win at #6 singles.
Up next
Northwestern will play their third match down in Florida on Tuesday, March 7 against Trine University on 6:00 PM at Oak Street Park in Kissimmee.
