On Saturday, the men’s and women’s teams both defeated DePauw at home. The Maroons ended the match with a pair of 8–1 wins. The men’s team is ranked No. 4 in the nation currently with a 9–1 record on the season so far. Meanwhile, the women’s team is ranked No. 15 in the nation currently with a 4–2 record for the season so far.
For the men’s side, Chicago won all six singles games. Second-years Nicolas Chua and Luke Tsai both won 6–0 against their opponents. The men then went on to win two out of the three doubles matches. One of the wins was an extremely close 9–8 win in overtime by Chua and second-year Peter Leung at No. 1 doubles. Four members of the men’s team won both singles and doubles matches.
For the women’s side, Chicago took home wins for all three doubles matches. In the singles games, the women’s team dropped only one match. There were two tiebreakers, won by first-year Rachel Kim and third-year Tiffany Chen. Three members of the women’s team won both singles and doubles matches.
Chua thinks that the hard work the teams have put forth in the season so far showed for the success of the weekend.
“I think we did well because we’ve been preparing our whole season for NCAAs and the top teams in the nation, so our success against them was an indication that we are moving in the right direction. Our results were mostly expected, and while I think we could do better in some spots it was a good learning experience for some, and good validation for others.”
Although Chua believes this, he thinks that both squads have much more work to do in preparation for the hunt for a NCAA Championship.
“I don’t think the DePauw match specifically has any implications for our trip in California. We will be playing against decent teams (especially tough since we’ll be moving outside for less than a week before our matches) before our big match against [Claremont-Mudd-Scripps]. I don’t think the result against CMS matters in the grand scheme of things, but it will be good to see where we match up with a team that most likely will be competing for the national championship with us. So I’m glad we had a good weekend, but there is still lots of room for us to improve for later in the season.”
The next match for the women will be Sunday, March 20 against Whitman in Claremont, CA at 9:30 a.m. (PT). For the men, Monday, March 21 against Stevens Institute of Technology in Claremont, CA with the time TBA.
