Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern extended its winning streak to seven with a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon over Vanderbilt at the Combe Tennis Center.
 
The match's final point came down to junior Strong Kirchheimer at No. 3, who put it away with a 6-3 third set win over Baker Newman.
 
"He is a kid who puts in so much hard work," head coach Arvid Swan said. "We are certainly happy to have him to win or lose a match. We feel good having Strong as the last man on the court."
 
The 20th-ranked Wildcats beat No. 32 Vanderbilt for the second consecutive year and are now 10-1 on the season.
 
"Vanderbilt is such a good, quality team, and it seems like every year we have really tight matches with them," Swan said. "I thought the guys did a really nice job."
 
The visiting Commodores got on the board first with a hard-fought doubles point. Northwestern's No. 3 tandem of Mihir Kumar and Alp Horoz posted the first win, but Vanderbilt matched at No. 2. The match at No. 1 became the tiebreaker, and Vanderbilt's Rhys Johnson and Cameron Klinger came away with a 7-6 (4) win.
 
The lead quickly evaporated with Chicago's Big Ten Team claiming the first three singles points with dominant performances from Fedor Baev, Sam Shropshire and Konrad Zieba.
 
The 14th-ranked Zieba matched up against Vanderbilt's only ranked player, No. 97 Daniel Valent, at No. 1 singles and came away with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win. No. 57 Shropshire returned to form with a 6-2, 6-3 straight set decision at No. 2.
 
After the Commodores won at Nos. 5 and 6 to tie the team score at three, Kirchheimer put the finishing touches on his match to give the Wildcats an important first win in Sunday's doubleheader.
 
Northwestern plays the second match tonight at 5 p.m. against crosstown foe UIC. The Wildcats are 18-0 all-time versus the Flames.
 
#20 Northwestern 4, #32 Vanderbilt 3
 
Singles
No. 1 – #14 Konrad Zieba (NU) def. #97 Daniel Valent (VU), 6-3, 6-0
No. 2 – #57 Sam Shropshire (NU) def. Rhys Johnson (VU), 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 – #77 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) def. Baker Newman (VU), 6-2, 5-7, 6-3*
No. 4 – Fedor Baev (NU) def. Cameron Klinger (VU), 7-5, 6-1
No. 5 – Kris Yee (VU) def. Alp Horoz (NU), 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 – Alex Ross (VU) def. Ben Vandixhorn (NU), 6-4, 6-4
Order of Finish: 4, 2, 1, 6, 5, 3*
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Johnson/Klinger (VU) def. Baev/Kirchheimer (NU), 7-6 (4)*
No. 2 – Newman/Allwardt (VU) def. Zieba/Shropshire (NU), 6-3
No. 3 – Kumar/Horoz (NU) def. Binet/Valent (VU), 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1*
 

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