Northwestern men’s tennis travelled to the University of Wisconsin on Thursday to participate in the Big Ten Singles and Doubles Championships. Sophomores Dylan Charlap and Vincent Yang, as well as first-years Cooper Han and Jacob Golden, represented the ‘Cats in the four-day tournament.
Thursday started with Han and Golden losing their doubles match in the Round of 32 (6-4) to the Wisconsin duo of Collin Beduhn and Sachiv Kumar. However, Charlap and Yang, who had a first-round bye, won 6-3 against
Indiana’s Sam Scherer and Benjamin Pomeranets. In the quarterfinals, Charlap and Yang fell short (6-2) against Wisconsin’s Matthew Fullerton and Patrik Meszaros.
On Friday, Charlap and Yang suffered a defeat in the doubles consolation bracket, losing 6-4 to Nebraska’s Leo Lopez Linquet and Henry Lamchinniah. After this match, the singles portion of the tournament got underway for the ‘Cats with Golden losing 6-2, 6-1 to the Badgers’ Kumar. Next to play was Yang, who defeated Nebraska’s Niels Van Der Sijs in a three-set thriller. After splitting the first two sets (6-3, 6-7), Yang pulled away in the tiebreak, winning 10-3. He then lost 7-6, 6-2 to Illinois’ Jeremy Zhang in the Round of 32.
Han fell in his opening match to Indiana’s Aidan Atwood (6-2, 6-2) as both first-years were knocked out early. Finally, Charlap won a gritty three-set match against Michigan’s Arnav Bhandari, coming back after dropping the first set (4-6, 7-6, 10-7). Charlap would then lose to Indiana’s Facundo Yunis in straight sets (6-1, 6-1).
In the singles consolation bracket for the losers of the Round of 64, both of the first-year ‘Cats went on runs. Han defeated Bhandari (6-3, 6-4) and Van Der Sijs (6-3, 6-3) in straight sets to put him in the consolation finals. Golden defeated Nebraska’s Henry Bilicic 7-5, 6-3, but then lost to Michigan’s Pierce Shaya (6-4, 6-2), preventing the Northwestern first-year finals matchup.
On Sunday, Han completed his dominance over the consolation bracket in a three-set slugfest against Shaya. Shaya won the first set 6-4 but was unable to hold off Han any longer. Han won the second set 6-3 and then narrowly prevailed in the tiebreak [12-10] in an incredibly competitive match. Charlap lost his consolation match to Fullerton (6-3, 6-2), and Yang won due to an injury to his opponent.
The ‘Cats tasted some victorious moments last weekend, but their stretch of important tournaments does not stop. Now, they turn their attention to the ITA Central Sectional Championships on Nov. 6 in Ann Arbor, MI.
