The No. 10 Maroons extended their winning streak to six matches with a 7–2 win against No. 26 DePauw University (4–5) on Sunday. In the process, the Maroons improved their record to 8–2.
To start off the day, second-year Sven Kranz and fourth-year Ankur Bhargava won their No. 3 doubles match 8–3. However, the Tigers took the top two doubles spots to give DePauw a 2–1 lead going into singles.
“Even after being down 2–1 after doubles, we remained positive and knew that if we all competed hard we had a good chance of coming away with the victory,” Kranz said.
First-year David Liu agreed with his teammate.
“We were confident going into singles because it has always been our strength. In fact, we were in the same exact situation last year [down 2–1 after doubles] and swept singles also to come out with the win,” he said.
With this mentality the Maroons were able to sweep all six singles matches for the fifth time this year. Fourth-year Deepak Sabada and first-year Michael Selin both came back from one-set deficits to capture wins. The other winners included Kranz, as well as first-years Luke Tsai, Peter Leung, and David Liu.
Chicago credits its success this year, and particularly this six-match winning streak, to the work ethic and resilience of its members.
“Our main strength, I believe, is our desire to compete out there and play to the best of our abilities. We have come away with many team victories, where everyone comes out and gives 100 percent,” Kranz said.
“We have suffered some illnesses and had to deal with some changes in the lineup so we have been extremely adaptable. One of our best singles players, Nick Chua, was out today because of a high fever. Every individual understands his role and does what he needs to do to help our team win,” Liu said.
Despite coming away with a win at DePauw, the South Siders know that there is work to be done. The squad’s next match will not take place until March 25 in Los Angeles. There, they will face off against No. 25 Cal Lutheran, No. 23 Whittier, and No. 15 Pomona-Pitzer.
“As evidenced by our match today, there is still work to be done in doubles,” Liu said. “We need to be more solid and disciplined so that we can get off to a fast start in our matches and crush any hope our opponents have of winning. Over spring break we have three very important matches that could decide our NCAA tournament bid, so it’ll be important for us to stay focused on and off the court this week.”
The first match of spring break will take place at Cal Lutheran on Wednesday, March 25, and will begin at 4 p.m. PST.
