Huskers Top Wildcats, 5-2

Behind the doubles point and four singles victories, the No. 48 Nebraska men’s tennis team (8-4, 1-1 Big Ten) defeated Northwestern (8-8, 1-1 Big Ten) 5-2, Sunday afternoon in Evanston, Ill. 

Northwestern claimed the first doubles match, as Jackson Caldwell and Vincent Yang defeated Anton Shepp and Henry Bilicic on Court 3, 6-3. The Huskers evened the score with Leo Linquet and Joan Torres Espinosa’s 6-2 win on Court 2 over Chad Miller and Felix Nordby. The doubles point was then decided on Court 1 as Nikolay Sysoev and Calvin Mueller secured the 7-5 victory over Northwestern’s Saiprakash Goli and Greyson Casey.

With the Huskers leading 1-0, singles action started. The Huskers won the first two singles matches, as Colson Wells defeated Jackson Caldwell on Court 6 (6-3, 6-2) and No. 81 Mueller topped Saiprakash Goli on Court 1 (6-3, 6-0). With the 3-0 lead, the Huskers were battling, but Shepp dropped his match on Court 2 to Nordby (6-3, 7-6), and Northwestern earned its first point. Lars Johann then fell on Court 5 to Miller (6-3, 6-2), but Nebraska ended the match on a high note with Sysoev earning the Husker victory on Court 3 (5-7, 6-3, 6-1). Hietaranta also secured a match win as he defeated Bengtsson on Court 4 (4-6, 6-0, 6-4), and the Huskers won overall, 5-2. 

Up next, the Huskers return home and host Michigan on Friday and Michigan State on Sunday.