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Senior men’s tennis player Jadon Phillips was just as concerned with his stomach Sunday afternoon as his upcoming doubles and singles match against Northwestern University.
Phillips was feeling ill that afternoon, throwing up before he asked head coach Alan Dils if he could play. After Dils approved, Phillips went on to win both his doubles and singles matches, standing as the only player to garner a singles win against the Wildcats on Sunday.
The Lobos endured their first home loss of the season as Northwestern swiped away a 5-2 win. UNM is now 5-6-0.
Phillips won his doubles match with freshman Riaan Du Toit against Alex Pasareanu and Mihir Kumar 8-5. Phillips then met Sidarth Balaji for his singles match. Balaji entered the match with seven straight wins under his belt before Phillips broke his streak 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
For Sunday’s match, Phillips said he channeled his experience playing Balaji last year.
“I knew his game a little bit and how he was going to come out and play. This year I did a few things differently,” Phillips said. “I was a little more aggressive and kept the balls deeper, I expected his best shots this year, I tried to stand my ground and serve better, just be more ready and aware.”
Dils said Phillips’ two wins are indicative of the way he has been playing on the court and during practice.
“Jadon lost to this guy last year at Northwestern pretty badly, and to turn around and beat him when he’s not feeling well tells you where Jadon is playing,” he said.
The afternoon matchup with the Wildcats began with a slow start for the Lobos, as the Wildcats took an early lead with the first doubles match. Number one doubles senior Conor Berg and freshman Andrew Van Der Vyver were beaten by Wildcats Balaji and Raleigh Smith, losing 5-8. By the third doubles match, with one win tallied for both teams, the allotted doubles point came down to the Lobos’ junior Mads Hegelund and sophomore James Hignett and the Wildcats Spencer Wolf and Fedor Baev. Hegelund and Hignett pulled through after a long match, winning the match’s tie break 9-8 (7-4).
“In the tie breaker, we got down early and we told each other, ‘James, if we’re going to lose this, let’s lose it going for it,’” Hegelund said.
Hegelund faced Chris Jackman in the singles category, coming up short after taking the match to a third set 1-6, 6-4, 4-6.
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“I think I was still mentally on the court in the doubles match, I wasn’t quite focused on the singles as I wanted to be and I started slow,” he said.
The Lobos lost momentum as the day went on. No. 1 seed sophomore Samir Iftikhar lost his early lead in the second set against Wolf, losing in the third set 6-4, 2-6, 5-7. No. 2 seed Berg lost to Smith 4-6, 6-7 (0-7).
Dils said that while the Lobos suffered a loss, the team held its own better than it did in its previous encounter with the Wildcats.
“They’re a very good team (Northwestern), probably better than their ranking, but we sunk our team in the match, won a great doubles point and gave ourselves a chance to win,” Dils said. “Now we have to learn a little bit from Northwestern — how we can win two or three more points under crunch time and do a couple things better, and we can turn those matches in our favor.”
