Chicago swung and missed at the opportunity to take two key nonconference matches on the road this weekend. The Maroons were barely bested by No. 24 UW-Whitewater 5–4 on Friday before losing to No. 18 Gustavus-Adolphus 7–2 on Saturday.

“It is very disappointing that we ended up with two losses this weekend, but we were really close in both matches,” fourth-year Zsolt Szabo said. “Turning these losses into wins is simply a matter winning some key points—not even games, just points.”

The No. 2 doubles team of second-year Gordon Zhang and first-year Max Hawkins cruised to an 8–2 win on Friday, but unfortunately, their teammates at No. 1 and No. 3 suffered narrow 8-6 defeats. The Warhawks led 2–1 heading into singles.

Playing with a No. 1 singles mindset at No. 2, third-year Deepak Sabada took an easy 6–2, 6–1 win. The other two Chicago singles victories came from first-years, with Hawkins winning a nail biter at No. 5, 7–6 (10–3), 7–6 (10–6), and Brian Sun grinding it out 7–5, 6–4 at No. 3.

Fellow first-year Sven Kranz fell 6–4, 7–5 at No. 1. Szabo was edged out in three sets, 7–5, 2–6, 6–3 at No. 4, and Zhang fell at No. 6, 6–4, 6–4.

The Maroons needed to regroup quickly in order to play Gustavus Adolphus the next day.

Chicago found itself in a hole after being swept in doubles and only took two singles wins.

The top two players for the Maroons, Kranz and Sabada, were the lone singles winners at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively.

“This weekend’s results in no way indicate our ability as a team,” Szabo said. “We are resilient, and we will bounce back.”

The Maroons will need to bounce back quickly at home as they face DI Detroit Mercy on Friday and DePauw on Saturday.

“We have learned from the losses. We know what we need to work on both individually and as a team,” Szabo said. “We are pumped to go out and take down the next team.”

Following these losses, the Maroons dropped to 3–4 on the season.