Northwestern
Minnesota
Golden Gophers Control Singles Play, Top Wildcats 5-2
4/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 8, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern's 64th-ranked men's tennis team fought valiantly but could not pull off the upset, falling to the 40th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers 5-2 Saturday afternoon at the Combe Tennis Center. The Wildcats took the doubles point, but Minnesota took five of the six singles matches in the contest.
Northwestern started the match on a positive note, winning a pair of doubles matches to take the doubles point.
After four quick games left their match even at two, Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrügge) blew away the Gophers' Andres Osorio and Sion Wilkins at No. 2 doubles, sweeping the next six games en route to an 8-2 victory.
The match that secured the doubles point for the 'Cats was almost the complete opposite of Lock and Tempke's match. Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) jumped out to an early lead on Minnesota's Adrien Debreyne and Raoul Schwark at No. 1 doubles thanks to a quick break. The Northwestern duo solidified its lead with another break at 4-2 and looked to be on its way to an easy victory.
A Gopher break at 7-4 eliminated one of the Wildcat breaks and forced Christian to serve for the match another time. A quartet of fantastic shots by Christian and Schaechterle sealed the match, giving the 'Cats the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.
With the doubles point already decided, the Northwestern duo of Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico/South Florida) lost at No. 3 doubles, 8-5, to the Gophers' D.J. Geatz and Nic Edlefsen.
"We did a great job in doubles today, really coming out ready," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "But we knew that Minnesota would be very, very good in singles and that proved to be the difference. They really took the momentum away from us and controlled almost every match. You have to give the Gophers credit."
Unfortunately for the 'Cats, the momentum from their exciting doubles victories would not translate into success in the singles matches.
The Gophers quickly evened the match at one apiece as Gomez fell to Edlefsen 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 singles.
A couple of minutes later Minnesota took a lead it would never relinquish. In a battle of top-60 players, the 59th-ranked Geatz defeated the 55th-ranked Tempke 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 singles to push the lead to 2-1.
Within the same minute, Schaechterle dropped his match at No. 5 singles to Schwark 6-2, 6-3 to push the deficit to two.
Shortly thereafter, Dwyer fell to Debreyne 6-4, 6-0 at No. 4 singles, clinching the match for the Gophers.
Alexey Evstratenkov (Moscow, Russia/Moscow International Gymnasia) proved to be a bright spot in the singles lineup for the Wildcats. Evstratenkov defeated Wilkins 6-4, 7-6, 1-0 (6) at No. 6 singles to give Northwestern its second point of the match.
Although the outcome was already decided, the most thrilling match was far from over. In a match filled with runs and rallies, Lock gave it everything he had at No. 2 singles but was overcome by Osorio 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (2).
"Despite losing, the match of the day was Willy's," Torricelli said. "He continues to compete at the highest level, regardless of the outcome. It was extremely close."
The loss pushes the 'Cats' record to 9-8, 3-3 in the Big Ten. They look to rebound quickly and push their Big Ten record back above .500 as Iowa comes to Evanston on Sunday. The match is tentatively scheduled to be played at Vandy Christie Tennis Center at noon.
Tennis Match Results University of Minnesota vs. Northwestern University Apr 08, 2006 at Evanston, IL#40 University of Minnesota 5, #64 Northwestern University 2 Singles competition: 1. No. 59 D.J. Geatz (MINN) def. No. 55 Christian Tempke (NU) 6-4, 6-1 2. Andres Osorio (MINN) def. Willy Lock (NU) 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10-2) 3. No. 121 Nic Edlefsen (MINN) def. Juan Gomez (NU) 6-3, 6-2 4. Adrien Debreyne (MINN) def. Marc Dwyer (NU) 6-4, 6-0 5. Raoul Schwark (MINN) def. Adam Schaechterle (NU) 6-2, 6-3 6. Alexey Evstratenkov (NU) def. Sion Wilkins (MINN) 6-4, 6-7, 1-0
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 5*, 4, 6, 2 *denotes clincher
Doubles competition: 1. Schaechterle, Adam/Christian, Matt (NU) def. Raoul Schwark/Adrien Debreyne (MINN) 8-6 2. Tempke, Christian/Lock, Willy (NU) def. Andres Osorio/Sion Wilkins (MINN) 8-2 3. D.J. Geatz/Nic Edlefsen (MINN) def. Dwyer, Marc/Gomez, Juan (NU) 8-5
Order of Finish: 2, 1*, 3 *denotes doubles-point clincher
Match Notes: University of Minnesota 10-9 (3-1 Big Ten); National ranking #40 Northwestern University 9-8 (3-3 Big Ten); National ranking #64 T-3:16 A-100
Players Mentioned
