KISSIMMEE, Fla. – It was an up-and-down penultimate day in Florida for the University of Northwestern Men's Tennis team, who split its two Thursday matches. The Eagles took down King's College (PA) 6-1 in the wee hours of the morning before falling to Wittenberg College, 2-5, in the evening.
Match One: King's College Monarchs
Northwestern set the tone right away with doubles matches as the sun rose. The No. 3 (
Caleb Jergenson (Livingston, Mont./Park),
Caleb Swigart (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park)) and No. 2 (
Sam Majerus (River Falls, Wis./River Falls),
Isaac Thomforde (Crookston, Minn./Crookston)) teams both won by 6-1 scores to clinch the doubles point for the Eagles, then
Carson Haack (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) and
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) gutted out a 7-5 win at No. 1 doubles just for good measure to achieve the doubles sweep.
UNW saw much of the same success when singles matches began as well. Thomforde and Swigart earned 6-0, 6-0 sweeps at No. 4 and No. 6, respectively, then Jergenson picked up a 6-0, 6-1 win in the No. 5 match. At No. 3 singles, Majerus emerged with a 6-0, 6-4 win, then Haack put Northwestern ahead 6-0 in the match with a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the No. 1 spot. The Eagles' lone loss of the day came at No. 2 singles, where Jarchow went into a tiebreak after a 6-4, 2-6 opening two sets, which resulted in a 13-15 loss.
Match Two: Wittenberg University Tigers
The evening finale pitted UNW against Wittenberg University. The two squads played singles first, and
Caleb Jergenson (Livingston, Mont./Park) was first off with a 1-6, 2-6 loss at No. 5. In the No. 6 match,
Caleb Swigart (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win to even the score, then
Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) gave Northwestern the lead with a 4-6, 6-0, 10-8 tiebreak win in the No. 2 spot. Unfortunately, the rest of the night went south for the Eagles, as Wittenberg took the remaining four points to claim the win. Majerus fell 4-6, 5-7 at No. 3 singles and Haack dropped his No. 1 match, 6-7, 3-6. Thomforde battled at No. 4 for three-and-a-half hours before ultimately losing by a 4-6, 7-6 10-7 tiebreak margin.
With the doubles results only counting as one point, the match had already been clinched by the Tigers before doubles began. The Eagles still battled, but began the session with a 4-6 loss in the No. 3 match by Jergenson and Swigart. Haack and Jarchow dropped a tough one at No. 1 doubles by a 4-6 count, then the freshman duo of Majerus and Thomforde came up with a 6-4 win at No. 2.
Up Next
The Eagles will play one final match in the Sunshine State, taking on Ursinus College at 12:00 PM (1:00 PM ET) on Friday.
