Men's tennis struggles on the road in Illinois
The men's tennis team continued their road trip by visiting Evanston, Ill. to face Northwestern University and Cornell University. On Friday, Feb. 7, the Owls lost 4-0 to Northwestern while on Saturday, Feb. 8, the Owls lost to Cornell 6-1. The Owls have a two-week break ahead of them and will not play another match until they take on the University of Louisiana, Lafayette on Sunday, Feb. 23 at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
Head Coach Efe Ustundag said it is always hard to play on the road on consecutive weekends.
"Playing on the road back-to-back is always challenging," Ustundag said. "[However], there was no crowd noise this week that could have impacted our players' performances."
Ustundag said that while the team had some great individual performances, they were not enough to keep the Owls from losing both matches.
"What happened this past weekend was slightly similar to the weekend before," Ustundag said. "We had some great performances by a few of our players, but there were not enough of them to change the outcome of either game."
Ustundag said he is looking forward to the two-week break in hopes of preparing the team for the rest of its matches.
"This two-week break is much needed," Ustundag said. "We lost four matches in a row to nationally ranked teams, and we feel like we could have won a couple of them. We have to find ways to improve our mental toughness and make less unforced errors in key games. Two weeks of good, hard practices will shape the rest of the season."
Sophomore Adam Gustafsson provided the Owls with their only point of the weekend, winning 6-2, 6-5 against Jason Luu of Cornell. Sophomore Tommy Bennett also had a one-set lead over Sam Shropshire in the Northwestern match before the Wildcats sealed the victory.
Freshman Zack Yablon said this weekend did not help the team mentally, especially after having lost both of its matches the weekend before against Mississippi State University and Texas Tech University.
"I think this weekend was a bit demoralizing for us, especially since we had played nationally ranked teams in the past closely," Yablon said. "It just seemed like a step in the wrong direction for us."
Yablon said it will take even more work to finally get a satisfying victory against a highly ranked opponent.
"We just have to keep working harder at everything," Yablon said. "Both the coaches and players need to improve. From the warm-ups to games, everything has to improve, and I'm sure it will. We just have to get that first big win as a team, and I think once we do, this team can do some serious damage with confidence."
After the two-week break, the team will play the University of Louisiana, Lafayette at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. The Ragin Cajuns have a 5-2 record this season, with losses against Baylor University and Texas A&M University, both nationally ranked teams.
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