Tuesday, March 22
Fort Worth, TX
12 p.m.
Northwestern
3
at
4
TCU
Northwestern Comeback Falls Short at No. 3 TCU
3/22/2016 3:59:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Box Score
FORT WORTH, Texas – Northwestern's 12-match winning streak came to an end Tuesday afternoon after a furious rally fell just short against No. 3 TCU. The Wildcats dropped their first match since Jan. 23.
Chicago's Big Ten Team, ranked 12th in the country, trailed 3-0 before mounting three straight singles wins to tie the match. For the second straight match, it all came down to freshman Ben Vandixhorn. He was able to force a third set against Trevor Johnson but was unable to complete the comeback, dropping the decisive set, 6-2.
Vandixhorn scored the final point in the Wildcats' thrilling 4-3 win over then-No. 8 Illinois the last time out.
Strong Kirchheimer, Fedor Baev and Konrad Zieba won in succession to bring Northwestern right back into the fold after a tough doubles point and two straight-set singles losses to begin the afternoon.
No. 97 Kirchheimer handled No. 54 Guillermo Nuñez (7-6, 6-4) to put the Wildcats on the board. He was followed by a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win at No. 4 by Baev, and No. 13 Zieba notched a three-set win over No. 15 Alex Rybakov to tie things up.
Northwestern's top doubles team of Baev and Kirchheimer upset the 67th-ranked duo of Hudson Blake and Reese Stalder, but a TCU win at No. 3 doubles brought the first point of the match down to No. 2. Zieba and Sam Shropshire were about as close as possible to securing the point but ultimately dropped the match 7-6 (5).
Tuesday's match was a makeup from Feb. 25, which was supposed to be played in Evanston. That was postponed due to inclement weather.
Northwestern is 3-2 against top-25 teams this year. The Wildcats return to Big Ten play with a match at Purdue on Friday at 6 p.m. CT. Chicago's Big Ten Team is back at home on Sunday, March 27 against Indiana at noon.
FORT WORTH, Texas – Northwestern's 12-match winning streak came to an end Tuesday afternoon after a furious rally fell just short against No. 3 TCU. The Wildcats dropped their first match since Jan. 23.
Chicago's Big Ten Team, ranked 12th in the country, trailed 3-0 before mounting three straight singles wins to tie the match. For the second straight match, it all came down to freshman Ben Vandixhorn. He was able to force a third set against Trevor Johnson but was unable to complete the comeback, dropping the decisive set, 6-2.
Vandixhorn scored the final point in the Wildcats' thrilling 4-3 win over then-No. 8 Illinois the last time out.
Strong Kirchheimer, Fedor Baev and Konrad Zieba won in succession to bring Northwestern right back into the fold after a tough doubles point and two straight-set singles losses to begin the afternoon.
No. 97 Kirchheimer handled No. 54 Guillermo Nuñez (7-6, 6-4) to put the Wildcats on the board. He was followed by a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win at No. 4 by Baev, and No. 13 Zieba notched a three-set win over No. 15 Alex Rybakov to tie things up.
Northwestern's top doubles team of Baev and Kirchheimer upset the 67th-ranked duo of Hudson Blake and Reese Stalder, but a TCU win at No. 3 doubles brought the first point of the match down to No. 2. Zieba and Sam Shropshire were about as close as possible to securing the point but ultimately dropped the match 7-6 (5).
Tuesday's match was a makeup from Feb. 25, which was supposed to be played in Evanston. That was postponed due to inclement weather.
Northwestern is 3-2 against top-25 teams this year. The Wildcats return to Big Ten play with a match at Purdue on Friday at 6 p.m. CT. Chicago's Big Ten Team is back at home on Sunday, March 27 against Indiana at noon.
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Players Mentioned
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