Northwestern men’s tennis (9-2) continued its blistering start to non-conference play, blowing out Marquette and Illinois State in a Saturday doubleheader at the Combe Tennis Center.
Head coach Arvid Swan’s squad has now won nine straight after dropping its first two matches of the season. It’s Northwestern’s largest win streak since 2017.
The Wildcats did not drop a single set this weekend, winning every singles game in straight sets and taking 24 of 29 doubles games. NU has not dropped a single set in each
of its nine consecutive victories.
Northwestern’s success against Marquette (1-8) started in doubles with Chad Miller and Vincent Yang, who rolled to a 6-1 victory in the No. 3 spot. Cyrus Mahjoob and Ethan Schiffman followed that up with a 6-2 at No. 2 to give the hosts the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead.
In singles, No. 4 Miller quickly netted a 6-1 victory before picking up his third 6-0 set of the season. The senior has embraced a leadership role both on and off the court this year, and Swan described him postgame as playing with a ton of confidence and positivity.
Yang continued the dominance with a 6-2, 6-0 win in the No. 5 spot, while Mahjoob clinched the match with a pair of 6-2 finishes in No. 2 singles. Schiffman, Carter Pate and Cooper Han each won their sets as well, completing a 7-0 sweep. Out of all seven sets, Schiffam’s 7-5 win and Han’s 7-6 victory were the closest game scores all morning.
After sweeping Illinois State 7-0 last season, NU’s rematch against them garnered a similar result — a 4-0 thrashing of the Redbirds (3-4).
No. 3 Miller and Yang built on their performance against Marquette, registering a 6-0 score for their second win of the day. Meanwhile, No. 1 Pate and Greyson Casey, after starting their match 2-2, steamrolled with four straight games to finish it 6-2.
Doubles has been particularly impressive for Swan’s squad this season, which he told reporters is a testament to the chemistry developed across the Northwestern roster.
After receiving a walkover point in No. 6 singles, Miller again picked up an early 6-1, 6-1 win, becoming the first Wildcat to complete their match for the second straight time that day. He’s only dropped 13 singles games in his past five matches, which he attributed postgame to improved footwork.
EMahjoob clinched the match in No.1 singles by a 6-2, 6-1 score.
Northwestern has a tougher challenge ahead of itself, as it travels to take on Notre Dame (8-1) on Friday. It will then travel back to Evanston, where it’ll face Denver (4-1) on Sunday.
