Mitch Gilbert
Contributing Writer
Coming off of their win over Illinois Wesleyan just last week, the Cardinals fought a good fight but were ultimately defeated 9-0 at home against Carthage on April 22nd.
Whether it was doubles or singles, the Red Men brought their A-game and fought off every move the Cards made, despite some good games by Jesse Adamson, Alexsander Vasic, and Connor Sass.
Despite the score looking grim, senior Rustam Saini was very excited with the potential and experience that has been gained from the season so far.
“Today’s score doesn’t reflect all the hard work that all of the guys have put in this year,” Saini said. “We’ve had a recent coaching change and our new coach (Nick DeFalco) has really helped turn the program around. I’m excited to see how the freshmen and sophomores develop over the next few years. They’re good and they can only get better from here.”
Including the loss to Carthage, the Cards still held a roughly even record at 8-10 (2-4 CCIW record), which is much better than the 3-14 (0-5 CCIW record) they had last year going into the Conference Tournament.
“It’s not realistic to expect a complete turnaround in just one year, but we’ve gotten pretty close,” said Saini.“We’re going to be playing against Millikin for the final game of the regular season and we’re hoping to get some good performances under our belt before the post season gets underway.”
And perform they did, as the Cardinals bounced back from their disappointing matches last week and put the hurt on Millikin, finishing the day with an overall record of 8-1.
NCC won every doubles match and only lost one of its six single matches.
The Cards wrapped up their season last Tuesday in a 5-0 loss to Augustana College.
