ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Men's Tennis team continued its home stand Thursday night, taking on Bethany Lutheran College in a UMAC clash under the Johnson Tennis Complex lights. Despite the, let's say, not ideal weather conditions, Northwestern had no issues handling its counterpart, taking down BLC by an 8-1 score. The Eagles improved to 16-7 overall with the win and 2-1 in the UMAC.
Despite the dominant final score, UNW did not get off to the lead it necessarily expected. After
Carson Haack (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) and
Darin Rupp (Sioux Falls, S.D./Roosevelt) opened the match with an 8-0 win at #2 doubles, the normally unflappable #1 team of
Stewart Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) and
Jacob Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) lost 5-8, evening the score at 1-1.
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) and
Ben Schutz (Maplewood, Minn./Homeschool) came through at #3 doubles, however, giving Northwestern a slight edge entering singles play.
Whatever hope Bethany Lutheran had at keeping the match close was quickly vanquished by the UNW men. Haack took care of business at #3 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 win, which was followed up by Schutz winning 6-0, 7-5 in the #6 spot. Morrell survived set one of his match, 7-6 (7-4), before settling in to take set two, 6-2, to clinch the team win for Northwestern. The Eagles continued to pour it on though, as Jarchow and Rupp each won 6-0, 6-0 at #4 and #5 singles, respectively. Weddle closed out the night with a 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 10-6 win at #2 singles to give UNW an 8-1 win over a conference rival.
Up next for the Eagles will be a 4:00 PM Tuesday (April 23
rd) home match versus Luther College, which was rescheduled from this past Tuesday. Northwestern was scheduled to hold a Senior Day match on Friday, April 19
th but that match was rescheduled to Wednesday, April 24
th at 4:30 PM. It will still serve as the Senior Day match.
