MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Men's Tennis faced off with Macalester College at Baseline Tennis Center in its last match before its annual trip to Florida for Spring Break. The Eagles will be looking to have better results in Florida, as they suffered a 1-6 defeat.
At No. 1 doubles, Carson Haack (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) and Sam Majerus (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) were able to hold comfortably for the first three games to have a 2-1 lead, but a few tough service games led to a 3-6 defeat. Griffen Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) and Jacob Petrick (Omaha, Neb./Elkhorn North), at No. 2 doubles, were under similar circumstances, as they went down two breaks of serve to lose the match 3-6. The No. 3 doubles team of Isaac Thomforde (Crookston, Minn./Crookston) and Caleb Swigart (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) battled back-and-forth with Macalester until at 4-4, when the Eagles were broken by the Scots to lose. 4-6.
Going into singles, struggles continued to affect Northwestern. The first to fall was Carsen Kramer (Faribault, Minn/Faribault) (No. 3) with a score of 0-6, 0-6. This was followed by Haack (No. 1), who also suffered a quick defeat, 1-6, 0-6. At No. 2 singles, Jarchow gave a good showing in his match, but Macalester's sustainability in the long rallies gave the Scots the first set, and its player quickly jumped ahead in the second set, leading to Jarchow losing 3-6, 1-6. Thomforde (No. 4) was unable to get ahead due to his opponent's firepower, and would lose 2-6, 0-6. Petrick (No. 6) lost his first set quickly and would battle to get back in the second, but he too fell, 3-6, 2-6. Finally, at No. 5 singles, Majerus was the lone Eagle left to try and avoid the sweep from Macalester. He would lose the first set in a hurry, but fought back to win the second set to force a ten-point tiebreaker. Luckily, through a few good defensive balls, Majerus was able to pull out a win with a score of 1-6, 6-4, 10-5.
The Eagles will have over a week to rest before they head to Florida for Spring Break for five matches, beginning with a double-dip on Monday, March 6th against Cornell and Emerson.
