Wildcats Defeat Spartans But Fall To Wolverines In Weekend Homestand
Continuing their recent trend of alternating wins and losses, No. 25 Northwestern nearly swept Michigan State on Friday, 6-1, before losing to No. 6 Michigan on Sunday, 5-2.
The Wildcats made quick work of the Spartans, who are 0-4 in Big Ten play, by clinching the first four points before playing out the rest of the matches.
The Spartans only managed to win three sets, all in singles, as Northwestern controlled the match from start to finish.
Northwestern’s top two doubles teams, Steven Forman/Felix Nordby and Simen Bratholm/Brian Berdusco, took care of business by earning the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 sets.
The Wildcats were bolstered by the back end of their roster in singles, getting wins from the fourth, fifth and sixth spots to earn the victory.
The trio all earned straight-set victories for their efforts. After eking out a tough first set, Presley Thieneman cruised to victory over Graydon Lair, 7-6, 6-0. Berdusco defeated Josh Portnoy 6-2, 6-4 while Nordby downed Nick Williams 6-3, 6-1.
Northwestern’s top two singles competitors, No. 37 Forman and Bratholm, each won their first set, dropped their second set, and won a final set super tiebreaker to close out the night.
It appeared as if Northwestern carried the momentum from Friday into Sunday’s match against Michigan. The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead in doubles as Forman/Nordby defeated the sixth-ranked doubles team, Andrew Fenty/Nino Ehrenschneider, 6-3.
The other two doubles matches went into tiebreaks. Northwestern had a combined five set points but failed to capitalize as Michigan came back in each tiebreak to win the doubles point.
Northwestern quickly lost its grip as Michigan won three of the first four completed singles matches to secure the team’s 11th consecutive victory.
No. 27 Ondrej Styler defeated Forman 6-3, 7-5 while Gavin Young handled Nordby, 6-2, 7-6.
Thieneman broke serve late in the second set against No. 43 Jacob Bickersteth to get Northwestern on the board with a 6-2, 7-5 win.
Bratholm doubled the tally after a straight-set victory that lasted over two hours. He won a marathon first set tiebreaker 14-12 and a 7-5 second set to put away No. 33 Fenty.
Berdusco and Trice Pickens battled into third sets in their matches but could not earn victories.
After a COVID-induced schedule pause in late February, the Wildcats have yet to regain their form. Since returning to action on March 9, Northwestern is 3-5 after a 10-2 start.
Two of those three wins have been in conference, so the Wildcats sit in the thick of the Big Ten standings at 2-2.
Northwestern will attempt to find some consistency next weekend as they go out on the road to take on the Wisconsin Badgers on April 8 and the Nebraska Cornhuskers on April 10.
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Ross is a graduate student at Northwestern Medill School of Journalism studying Sports Media.