University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Northwestern
Players Mentioned
Gophers Upset No. 24 Northwestern in Home Opener
2/26/2021 7:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The win marks Minnesota's first victory of the young season
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The University of Minnesota men's tennis team opened their home schedule at Baseline Tennis Center in a big way on Friday night, knocking off the No. 24 Northwestern Wildcats. The match was highlighted by a thrilling three-set victory from Sebastian Vile to clinch the win.
Friday's win earns the "U" their first victory of the young season, while Northwestern falls to 2-3 on the season.
Doubles Play
Jackson Allen and Sebastian Vile started the day on the right foot with a 6-4 doubles victory over the Northwestern pairing of Gleb Blekher and Natan Spear. The Wildcats answered nicely though, as Siim Troost and Vlad Lobak dropped their match against their second straight ranked opponent. With the doubles point in the balance, the Gopher pairing of Bodin Zarkovic and Daniel Martin dropped a 7-5 match to earn Northwestern the doubles point.
Singles Play
After dropping the first singles match of the day, the Gophers rattled off three straight singles wins to take the 3-2 lead. Jackson Allen started off the Gophers with a ranked victory in straight sets over No. 58 Dominik Stary. The latter two wins came by the hands of Vlad Lobak and Siim Troost by the scores of 6-4, 6-4 and 7-5, 6-3, respectively.
After Dylan Heap lost his singles match in straight sets, the match was to be decided between Sebastian Vile and Simen Bratholm, which was fittingly the closest match of the evening. After splitting the first two sets, and going back and forth in the third set, Vile was finally able to break through to win the third set and clinch the match for Minnesota.
Notable:
Friday night's victory marks the first upset victory for the Maroon & Gold since the team defeated No. 19 Alabama on Feb. 1, 2019. That performance was highlighted by Josip Krstanovic, where he defeated No. 24 singles player Mazen Osama in three sets to push the Gophers to a 4-3 match victory
Quotable:
"It was fun to watch the team play this afternoon," head coach Geoff Young said. "Sebastian did a great job. Proud of the team's effort today."
As for Sebastian Vile's thoughts on his match, he said "It was an unbelievable feeling. I thought the level from both of us was pretty good. I was just able to be a bit more steady at the end. It was back and forth but I'm just very happy. This team has been through a lot and to pull this one out was indescribable."
What's Next?
Minnesota will take on No. 8 Illinois on Sunday afternoon, before returning back to Baseline Tennis Center the following weekend to take on the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday, Mar. 6.