The Michigan Tech men’s tennis team wrapped up the opening weekend of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic competition with a 7-0 loss in the Gates Tennis Center to Northwood University. The Huskies will now compete in three straight road matches before returning home on April 12th.
“We faced a very good Northwood team today and credit to them for playing an excellent match,” Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. “I still like the progress we are making overall as a team, even though we struggled in doubles today. I felt like we took some steps forward in singles and we’ll look to build on that moving ahead. Our effort was great again today from our players and we are excited about competing at Lake Superior State on Saturday.”
Northwood (7-5, 2-0 GLIAC) established a foothold in Sunday’s match by sweeping all three doubles competitions against Michigan Tech (2-8, 0-3 GLIAC) to earn the first point. The No. 2 doubles spot went in the books first with sophomore Nico Caviglia and sophomore Ignacio Carbajosa falling to David Reinauer and Hayden Drury 6-2.
Senior Juan Felipe Chica and freshman Nathan Sodini teamed up in the No. 3 spot for the Huskies and stumbled against Ben Brandherm and Ivan Medvynski of the Timberwolves 6-1. Senior Mario Neto and freshman Siddhesh Mahadeshwarturned in a solid performance in No. 1 doubles, going toe to toe with Kobus Sauerman and Pablo Salamanca. Unfortunately, the Northwood duo prevailed 6-4 with a late charge in the contest.
The Timberwolves claimed points in all six singles matches, but the Huskies didn’t make things easy for them. Neto played well in singles on Saturday and that carried over into Sunday’s No.1 showdown against Kobus Sauerman. Neto stayed on Sauerman’s heels in set one and nearly jumped out to the early lead in the match, if not for a late rally by Sauerman that resulted in a 6-4 win. Sauerman then carried the momentum forward for a 6-1 win in set two.
Caviglia had a similar outcome and strong performance in No. 2 singles Sunday afternoon against David Reinauer. Caviglia came up just short in the first set 6-4 before falling in the second 6-0. In No. 3 singles, Branherm topped Carbajosa 6-1, 6-2, Mahadeshwar fell to Salamanca 6-1, 6-0 in No. 4 singles, and Medvynskyi pulled away from Felipe Chica 6-2, 6-2 in No. 5 singles. Sodini closed out the match in No. 6 singles and after staying with Drury early in each set, fell 6-2, 6-2.
The Huskies will look to regroup on Saturday when they travel to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan for a showdown with Lake Superior State. The first serve is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. eastern time.
