ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Northwestern Men's Tennis team was able to enjoy the sunny state of Florida for the past few days, but was excited to start competing again on Monday. The Eagles had two teams ahead of them on the opening day of play, both from the northeast.
Match One: Connecticut College Camels
Play started early in the morning against the Connecticut College Camels at the USTA National Campus. The Eagles started doubles play at a high level, but unfortunately the Camels were able to edge them out, taking all three matches.
Darin Rupp (Sioux Falls, S.D./Roosevelt) and
Carson Haack (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) lost 5-8 at two doubles, followed by
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) and
Eli Henderson (Andover, Minn/Andover) losing 4-8 at three doubles.
Stewart Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) and
Jacob Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) battled against the Camels' one doubles team all the way to a tiebreaker, but were unable to pull out the win, losing 7-8 (3-7).
The Eagles faced a similar outcome after the six singles matches.
Caleb Jergenson (Livingston, Mont./Park) was first off the court in singles play, losing 1-6, 1-6. Following him was Haack at three singles, falling 2-6, 0-6, Weddle 2-6, 1-6 at two singles, Rupp 2-6, 3-6 at five singles, and Jarcow 3-6, 2-6 at four singles. Morrell battled in a long first set but ultimately fell 6-7 (5-7). He concluded the match with a second set score of 2-6.
Although the Eagles were swept by the Camels and dealt their first loss of the season, they were left unwavering as they looked ahead to the afternoon where another grueling match awaited.
Match Two: Salve Regina University Seahawks
UNW took the court again at 3 PM ET on Monday afternoon against Salve Regina University, hailing from Rhode Island. Here they were able to find more success against their opponent than the morning's match.
The Eagles quickly were able to secure three wins in doubles play. The number one team of
Stewart Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) and
Jacob Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) were the first to finish after dominating on their court, securing the first win of the afternoon at 8-0.
Darin Rupp (Sioux Falls, S.D./Roosevelt) and
Carson Haack (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) were not too far behind, following suit with a victory of 8-3 at two doubles. To finish off this excellent start,
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) and
Eli Henderson (Andover, Minn/Andover) completed their match with an 8-5 win in the three spot.
As singles play began,
Caleb Jergenson (Livingston, Mont./Park) was once again the first off the court for the Eagles, however, this time with a different result. Jergenson cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win at six singles, which left the Eagles needing only one more match to secure the team win. Morrell, the senior captain, was able to do just that. Morrell earned a victory at the one singles spot, defeating his opponent 6-3, 6-1. The Seahawks were able to get one win at three singles where Haack was not able to withstand his opponent's gameplay and lost 1-6, 3-6, but Weddle and Rupp controlled their entire matches and both won 6-0, 6-1 at two singles and five singles, respectively. Last off the court for the Eagles was Jarchow, who was challenged with a close and exciting match that contained two tiebreakers. Jarchow won the first set 6-4, but lost the second set in a tiebreaker 6-7 (3-7). This first tiebreak loss did not shake Jarchow's confidence. He was able to stay dialed in as he pulled out the third set tiebreak victory with a score of 10-8.
The UNW Eagles Men's Tennis team is riding the energy of a victory into its next spring break match. The Eagles face off against Juniata College Tuesday at 6:00 PM ET (5:00 PM CT) at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.
