Northwestern men’s tennis narrowly takes down Illinois

On Saturday, Northwestern confronted down a match vital in all features – a intently ranked opponent, convention matchup and in-state rival all through the first outside match of the season – and got here out on prime. 

Then-No. 27 Wildcats (15-7, 4-1 Massive 10) hosted instate rival — then-No. 23 — Illinois on April 8 after concluding a 4 match win streak. NU had but to land a win towards a extremely ranked convention opponent, and people within the stands knew the match was certain to be neck-and-neck.

The Cats began off robust. The primary doubles win was picked by NU’s duo of graduate college students Steven Forman and Simen Bratholm on the highest court docket, whose underdog takedown of the Preventing Illinis’ then-No. 41 pair kick-started the Cats’ momentum within the match.

On the second court docket, junior Gleb Blekher and graduate scholar Ivan Yatsuk had been dealt with by Illinois 6-2, making the doubles level anybody’s sport. However that query didn’t linger for lengthy, with NU quickly clinching the doubles level on the third court docket to place the Cats up 1-0 heading into singles. 

From there, the six singles matches every grew to become the entertaining, back-and-forth battle followers had anticipated from the tight rivalry matchup. 

The Preventing Illini started to chop a path for themselves from the soar, dashing to 2 decisive victories over the Cats’ junior Presley Thieneman and Forman, altering the tide and giving Illinois an early 2-1 lead. 

NU needed to hit again to remain within the match, and a pair of wins helped them catch as much as Illinois. Yatsuk took down the Preventing Illini’s then-No. 38 Karlis Ozolins on the highest court docket, a powerful victory to tie the match at two apiece. Graduate scholar Trice Pickens shortly received on the board, downing his opponent to place the Cats again on prime, 3-2, for the primary time for the reason that finish of doubles. 

However the rivalry match refused to achieve a peaceable finish. Shortly after pulling forward of Illinois, NU was as soon as once more staring down a tied rating after Bratholm dropped his third set at hand the following level to the persistent Alex Petrov. 

At 3-3, the sixth court docket was the final left in play, manned by Blekher – a participant who has confirmed himself to be a clincher underneath stress. He had gained his first set and misplaced his second, each by tiebreaker margins, and all eyes had been on the match-deciding third set. 

Fortunately for the Cats, Blekher pulled away from the shut video games that dictated the primary and second units and downed the final Illini standing 6-1. The victory despatched the crew storming his court docket, reveling in a 4-3 win in one in all its hardest-fought matches this season. 

This victory over a ranked convention opponent — not to mention a rival — was invaluable for the Cats, who improved to 4-1 in convention play. This weekend, the Cats will host a house swing towards No. 45 Nebraska, No. 51 Wisconsin and Illinois State, the place they’ll look to proceed driving their ever-growing convention momentum. 

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Associated Tales: 

— Captured: Northwestern seizes a back-and-forth victory over quantity 23 Illinois, securing fifth win in a row

— Males’s Tennis takes down Indiana and Purdue

— Northwestern Males’s Tennis hosts triple-header this weekend