ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the third consecutive day, the University of Northwestern Men's Tennis team took to the courts at the Johnson Tennis Complex for a non-conference match. St. John's University paid the Eagles a visit on Thursday and were able to take advantage of UNW's ace,
Stewart Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool), not being in the lineup. The Johnnies used strong play in singles matches to win 7-2.
With Morrell out,
Carson Haack (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) joined
Jacob Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) on the #1 doubles team and they didn't miss a beat. Despite falling behind 3-4, the duo stormed back to win the match 8-4.
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) and
Darin Rupp (Sioux Falls, S.D./Roosevelt) fell behind 2-7 at #2 doubles and won the next two points to give the Johnnies a scare, but ultimately lost 4-8. At #3 doubles,
Ben Schutz (Maplewood, Minn./Homeschool) and
Eli Henderson (Andover, Minn/Andover) fell behind 3-6 and 4-7 before winning two consecutive points and gaining some momentum. Unfortunately, SJU won the next point to win the match 8-6 and take a 2-1 lead entering singles play.
Despite the match being close after doubles, St. John's turned it on as soon as singles began. Schutz lost 0-6, 0-6 at #5 singles, then Jarchow fell 1-6, 0-6 in the #3 match. Rupp and
Caleb Jergenson (Livingston, Mont./Park) both lost 2-6, 2-6 at #4 and #5, respectively, then Haack dropped his first career #2 singles match, 4-6, 1-6. UNW's lone singles win came in the #1 match, where
Jacob Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) was victorious by a 7-5, 4-6, 10-3 score. The 2-7 loss dropped Northwestern's record to 17-9 on the season.
The Eagles' regular season will come to a close on Saturday, April 27
th, but their season will not. The UMAC announced on Wednesday that Northwestern has clinched a berth in the UMAC Men's Tennis Tournament that will take place May 3
rd-4
th. UNW will double dip on Saturday, playing at Martin Luther at 11:00 AM and at St. Olaf at 5:00 PM. The St. Olaf match will be live streamed and can be accessed via a link on unweagles.com.
