It was an eventful stretch for Northwestern men’s and women’s tennis over the weekend.
On the men’s side, the ‘Cats competed in singles and doubles for the Hope RSM Invite, their third event of the season. Northwestern’s sophomore duo of Carter Pate and Vincent Yang led the way, playing doubles and qualifying for the semifinals after defeating Western Michigan and Wisconsin. Pate and Yang did fall 6-0 to Michigan’s Mert Oral and Arnav Bhandari, but they bounced back in Sunday’s consolation match with
a 6-2 victory over Notre Dame’s Giuseppe Cerasuolo and NU’s own first-year Jacob Golden.
For Yang, Oct. 3-5 was an interesting adjustment. He played with senior Chad Miller at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic on Sept. 25-27, falling in the quarterfinals in a close match against Oregon that went into a tiebreak. Beyond their doubles pairing, both players participated in singles events as well, with Pate picking up victories over WMU, Wisconsin and Michigan and Yang falling to WMU, Wisconsin, Michigan and Purdue.
Junior Owen Megargee and Golden also played at the Hope RSM Invite, falling as a doubles duo in the Round of 16 to the Wolverines and in consolation doubles to the Broncos. Neither managed to fully bounce back in singles, with Megargee finishing 0-2 and Golden going 2-2 (with one victory due to an injury withdrawal). Still, Golden’s performance in his Wildcat debut showed plenty of flashes, particularly during a come-from-behind 2-6, 6-4, [10-8] victory over Western Michigan.
For the women’s squad, last weekend saw a trip to East Lansing for the Michigan State Invite. The tournament was NU’s second women’s tennis competition of the fall season, as two players participated in the ITA All-American Championships in September.
After playing in the previous tournament, neither junior Neena Feldman nor junior Autumn Rabjohns played at MSU, meaning Oct. 3-5 saw two ‘Cats making their season debuts. Things started off strong during the Friday singles slate, as first-year Marelie Raath and sophomore Maia Loureiro kicked off play with a pair of singles wins. Impressively, in her first match for Northwestern, Raath defeated DePaul’s Sasha Stula in straight sets, coming away victorious by a 6-2, 6-4 final score.
In doubles, the Raath/Loureiro duo split its two Friday one-set matches, but the players bounced back on Saturday with a couple of victories over two DePaul duos. Raath fell 6-2, 6-4 in singles to Michigan on that Saturday, but Loureiro came away with a gusty three-set victory over DePaul, winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. However, things weren’t so rosy on Sunday, as the first-year and the sophomore lost to the Blue Demons and the Wolverines, respectively (although Raath did pick up her opening set).
Both tennis squads will be busy again this weekend. For the men, it’ll be a competition in the 68th Annual Intercollegiate from Oct. 9-12. Meanwhile, the women’s team will trek to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Wolverine Invitational on Oct. 10-12.
