Northwestern
Purdue
Northwestern Rallies to Beat Purdue 6-1
4/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 15, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's men's tennis team dropped the doubles point but rallied to win all six singles contests en route to a 6-1 victory over Purdue Saturday at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center. The Wildcats now stand at 5-3 in the Big Ten with two conference matches remaining.
"Purdue did a great job in doubles," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "But I like the way we took control in singles and never let them back into the match."
Purdue started the day by winning two of three doubles matches, claiming a hotly contested doubles point.
It was Northwestern that struck first, however, as senior captain Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) earned a win at No. 1 doubles. After playing to a 4-4 tie with Purdue's Colin Foster and Kurt Zaske, the Wildcats won four of the next five games to take an 8-5 decision. The two now have won three-straight matches.
At No. 2, Purdue's Eric Hodgman and Griffin Nienberg made it one doubles match apiece as they topped Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrügge). The two teams played to a 3-3 tie, but Purdue won five-consecutive games to take the match, 8-3.
With the doubles point hanging in the balance, Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico/South Florida) battled back from an early 5-3 deficit to force a tiebreaker versus the Boilermakers' Jose Fuenmayor and Kelubia Mabatah. The two teams went back and forth in the tiebreaker, but Purdue outlasted the 'Cats in the end for the 9-8 (7-5) victory.
Trailing 1-0, Northwestern rebounded nicely, stringing together six-straight wins to clinch its fifth conference win of the season.
Tempke quickly evened the match up at 1-1 with a dominating win at No. 1 singles. He took a 6-2, 6-2 straight-set victory over Foster, gaining the momentum for Northwestern.
Lock continued the winning ways for NU and extended the Wildcats' lead to 2-1 when he won at No. 2. Lock took the 6-4, 6-2 win over the Boilermakers' Scott Warner, his eighth victory in nine tries.
Gomez made the score 3-1 when he won his second-straight match at No. 3. Gomez earned a 6-3, 6-2 win over Hodgman, improving his dual match record to 11-8.
Schaechterle then clinched the match for Northwestern with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Zaske at No. 5. He has now won eight of his last nine matches.
Evstratenkov made it 5-1 Northwestern with a win at No. 6 singles. Evstratenkov took a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Nienberg, improving his Big Ten record to 5-1 this season.
Dwyer wrapped up the winning ways for Northwestern with a win at No. 4. Dwyer led 6-2, 4-3 before over Purdue's Jarred Leibner retired due to injury.
With the win, Northwestern improves to 11-8 overall. The Wildcats return to action at noon Sunday, April 16 as they host No. 5 Illinois in their home finale. Livestats of the Illinois match are available at .
#61 Northwestern University 6, Purdue University 1 Singles competition: 1. #55 Tempke, Christian (NU) def. Foster, Colin (PUR) 6-2, 6-2 2. Lock, Willy (NU) def. Warner, Scott (PUR) 6-4, 6-2 3. Gomez, Juan (NU) def. Hodgman, Eric (PUR) 6-3, 6-2 4. Dwyer, Marc (NU) def. Leibner, Jarred (PUR) 6-2, 4-3, retired 5. Schaechterle, Adam (NU) def. Zaske, Kurt (PUR) 6-4, 6-4 6. Evstratenkov, Alexey (NU) def. Nienberg, Griffin (PUR) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles competition: 1. Christian, Matt/Schaechterle, Adam (NU) def. Foster, Colin/Zaske, Kurt (PUR) 8-5 2. Nienberg, Griffin/Hodgman, Eric (PUR) def. Tempke, Christian/Lock, Willy (NU) 8-3 3. Fuenmayor, Jose/Mabatah, Kelubia (PUR) def. Gomez, Juan/Dwyer, Marc (NU) 9-8 (7-5)
Match Notes: Purdue University 7-11 Northwestern University 10-8; National ranking #61 Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,2,3,5,6,4) Official: John Coleman T-3:10 A-100
Players Mentioned
