Box Score | Updated Season Stats

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern posted its four straight shutout and won its fifth conference match in as many tries with a 4-0 win over Minnesota Sunday at the Combe Tennis Center.
 
The 13th-ranked Wildcats are out to a 5-0 start in Big Ten play for the first time since 1997 and are 19-2 overall.
 
"It is tough to win in the Big Ten," head coach Arvid Swan said. "Minnesota has a great program with great coaches, so it was a good win for us today. We are trying to build, trying to keep playing better."
 
Northwestern continued its doubles dominance, sweeping Minnesota to earn the first point of the match. Fedor Baev and Strong Kirchheimer improved to 16-7 with a 6-3 win at No. 1 and were quickly followed by Alp Horoz and Mihir Kumar at No. 3 with a win by the same margin.
 
At 14-3 this season, the .824 winning percentage for Horoz and Kumar ranks third in a single-season in program history.
 
The Wildcats are 18-0 this year when they score first.
 
Northwestern breezed through singles with three straight set wins to close out the match. Horoz got on the board first with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 5 to move to 5-0 in the Big Ten.
 
He was followed in short order by No. 97 Kirchheimer, who improved to 22-3 overall with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 3. Ben Vandixhorn then closed out the match for the second straight time with a win at No. 6.
 
The Wildcats also held leads in each of the three matches that went unfinished.
 
"It was a good weekend for us beating two good teams," Swan said. "That should give us some confidence going into two tough away matches."
 
Chicago's Big Ten Team continues conference play when it travels west for a pair of matches next weekend. The Wildcats are at Nebraska on Friday, April 8 for a 4 p.m. match before heading to Iowa on Sunday for a noon match against the No. 60 Hawkeyes.
 
#13 Northwestern 4, Minnesota 0
 
Singles
No. 1 – #13 Konrad Zieba (NU) vs. Matic Spec (MINN), 6-3, 3-4 (unfinished)
No. 2 – #42 Sam Shropshire (NU) vs. Ruben Weber (MINN), 6-4, 3-0 (unfinished)
No. 3 – #97 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) def. Marino Alpeza (MINN), 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 – Fedor Baev (NU) vs. Felix Corwin (MINN), 7-5, 3-3 (unfinished)
No. 5 – Alp Horoz (NU) def. Justyn Levin (MINN), 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 – Ben Vandixhorn (NU) def. Jeremy Lynn (MINN), 6-2, 6-3*
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 6*
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Baev/Kirchheimer (NU) def. Alpeza/Weber (MINN), 6-3
No. 2 – Zieba/Shropshire (NU) vs. Spec/Lynn (MINN), 4-4 (unfinished)
No. 3 – Horoz/Kumar (NU) def. Corwin/Levin (MINN), 6-3*
Order of Finish: 1, 3*
 

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