INDIANPOLIS, IND. -- Northwood (Mich.) advanced to the Round of 16 with a 5-3 road win against Indianapolis.
Northwood has now won 14 consecutive matches to improve to 19-3 overall. Indianapolis ends its season 16-4 overall.
Doubles proved to be a key portion of the match, as Northwood opened up a 2-1 lead heading to singles. Indianapolis got on the board first with an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles, which was followed by NU's Jean Menard and Lorenzo Montegiorgi earning an 8-6 win at the No. 1 match to level the score. The final match of doubles proved to be a tight one, which was pulled out by Northwood's Samual Walendowsky and Konstantin Zhukov. They posted a 9-8 win at the No. 2 position, winning the lengthy tiebreaker 12-10 to put the Timberwolves on top heading to singles.
Northwood needed three wins in singles to advance and earned them at the second through fourth positions. The Greyhounds won two of the first three singles matches to level the score, as UIndy won at the No.5 and No. 1 positions while Zhukov claimed a victory at the fourth slot. With the score tied 3-3, the Timberwolves claimed the final two victories of the day at No. 2 and No. 3 singles. Montegiorgi picked up a 6-4, 7-5 win at the second slot to put Northwood one match away. Salikh Gilmutdinov then sent NU to Florida with a comeback victory in the third position, taking the match 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
The Timberwolves will now face Northwest Missouri State in the Round of 16 on May 14 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
