Northwestern Passes Test from Ball State in Season-Opener

1/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Jan. 16, 2011

Complete Results

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Combe Tennis Center)
Score: Northwestern 6, Ball State 1
Records: NU (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten), Ball State (0-1, 0-0 MAC)
Next NU Event: Sunday, Jan. 16 vs. Illinois-Chicago • Evanston, Ill. • 7 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's 2011 dual campaign began on a winning note Sunday afternoon as the Wildcats fought their way to a 6-1 victory against Ball State in the first leg of a season-opening double-header. Junior and No. 1 singles player Joshua Graves clinched NU's fourth point with a gutsy 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over BSU's Dalton Albertin.

Swan's squad secured the doubles point as the Wildcats sprinted to big leads at both No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. At the top spot, Graves and Wolf won six of the first seven games and went on to win by a final score of 8-3.

NU's clinching point came courtesy of Sidarth Balaji and Andrew McCarthy, who led by a comfortable 6-2 margin before BSU's Austin Sansone and Shaun Bussert picked up the ensuing game after several deuce points. NU regained a four-game lead, however, and broke the Cardinals' serve in the final game thanks to some hard-hitting by the senior McCarthy.

Northwestern's Tobias Reitz and Raleigh Smith fell into a 3-0 deficit in their No. 2 match against Ball State's Andres Monroy and Cliff Morrison and answered to get within 3-2, but it was all Cardinals after that as Ball State posted an 8-2 victory.

NU received a lift in singles from a freshman making his dual match debut. Raleigh Smith bounced back from his doubles defeat to take immediate control against Ball State's Austin Sansone and eventually was the first player off the courts for the Wildcats with a 6-2, 6-2 victory to his credit.

The Wildcats increased their lead in the team score to 3-0 with four matches still on the courts thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles by sophomore Sidarth Balaji over the Cardinals' Zane Smith.

The outcome of the dual was still in question, however, with the four remaining matches looking destined to head to tiebreaking third sets. After winning the first set of his No. 1 match against Dalton Albertin, Graves fell into a 5-3 hole before breaking Albertin's serve to set up a comeback. A dominant service game pulled him level at five-all and back-to-back holds sent the set to a tiebreaker, where Graves gained a 5-2 lead and staved off Albertin's attempt at a comeback. Graves won a perfectly constructed point to go up 6-5, then won the match on an unforced error to clinch the match.

With the dual win in hand, NU then received a strong third-set performance by Tobias Reitz as the junior finished off a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over Alex Brym at No. 4.

Andrew McCarthy split a pair of 6-3 outcomes in his first two sets against Andres Monroy at No. 5, and the action was equally as tight in the third set. But a big break down the stretch by McCarthy gave him a 5-3 lead and later put away the match following several deuce points with a winner just inside the left boundary.

On court two, Wolf was narrowly edged by Cliff Morrison in the first set, 7-5, only to come charging out in the second with a 5-1 lead and win the set 6-2. With Graves having already clinched NU's fourth point, Wolf and Morrison entered a third-set tiebreaker where Wolf fought to take a 6-4 lead. But Morrison found his forehand reliable down the stretch and won five consecutive points to take control and won, 10-7.

Northwestern faces a very short turnaround before its final match of the night, a 7 p.m. dual with Illinois-Chicago Sunday evening.

No. 59 Northwestern 6, Ball State 1
Singles:
1: Joshua Graves (NU) def. Dalton Albertin (BSU), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
2: Sidarth Balaji (NU) def. Zane Smith (BSU), 6-4, 6-2
3: Cliff Morrison (BSU) def. Spencer Wolf (NU), 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7)
4: Tobias Reitz (NU) def. Alex Brym (BSU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
5: Andrew McCarthy (NU) def. Andres Monroy (BSU), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
6: Raleigh Smith (NU) def. Austin Sansone (BSU), 6-2, 6-2

Doubles:
1: Graves/Wolf (NU) def. Albertin/Smith (BSU), 8-3
2: Monroy/Morrison (BSU) def. Reitz/Smith (NU), 8-2
3: McCarthy/Balaji (NU) def. Sansone/Bussert (BSU), 8-3

Order of Finish
Singles: (6, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5) Doubles: (2, 1, 3)

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