The Saint Louis University men’s tennis team was shutout against Northern Illinois University this past weekend, while playing at home at the St. Clair Tennis Club in O’Fallon, Mo. The Huskies rolled past the Billikens 7-0, as SLU lost every singles matchup and the doubles competition as well.
On the first court, SLU junior David Ferragut lost to NIU’s Bor Schweiger Muzar by a score of 6-3, 7-5. The second court saw SLU junior Juan Calero fall to Georg Lundqvist of NIU 6-3, 6-0, failing to win a single game in the final set. The third matchup saw a closer game, between NIU’s Eric Marbach and SLU junior Charlie Parry. Marbach prevailed on the tie-breaking third set, by a score of 5-7, 6-2, 10-4.
In the fourth match, Tom Hjertonsson of Northern Illinois defeated SLU junior John Nogalski 6-4, 6-4. The fifth match, between SLU sophomore Oscar Pachon and NIU’s Carlos Manzanas also went the way of NIU. Manzanas won 6-3, 6-3. In the sixth and final singles match, SLU senior Paarth Dodhiawala was defeated by Louis-Philippe Hamel 6-4, 6-2.
In the doubles competition, a team made of Marbach and Lundkvist defeated SLU’s Ferragut and Calero combination by a score of 6-1. Meanwhile, SLU’s Parry and Nogalski were up 5-3 against Muzar and Manzanas, although that match did not reach its conclusion and went unfinished. Hamel and Hjertonsson of NIU swept Dodhiawala and Pachon 6-0.
The loss moved SLU to a 3-2 record on the season. Next up for the Billikens will be a match against the Dayton Flyers in Dayton, Ohio, on Friday, Feb. 17. Then, in the same location, the Billikens will play against Duquesne on Saturday, Feb. 18. These matches will be the first matches of SLU’s Atlantic 10 conference regular season.
SLU will be hoping that the mixture of teams that they have faced up to this point will prepare them well for their A-10 gauntlet. Some teams, such as Northern Illinois, have defeated SLU without much trouble. Meanwhile, SLU has handled teams such as Quincy with ease. The real tests, however, will come when SLU takes the court against other A-10 teams.
