Northwestern
Lewis
Northwestern Grounds Flyers, 7-0
2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 15, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- NU remained undefeated at home with a 7-0 triumph over Lewis University Sunday evening at Combe Tennis Center. The win pushes the Wildcats to an 8-0 record on the season as the team posted 10 love sets in just nine matches against Lewis. Junior captain Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) improves to a combined 16-0 in singles and doubles.
The Wildcats won the doubles point in under thirty minutes thanks to quick finishes at No. 2 and No. 3. The duo of Sanborn and Joshua Graves (Milwaukee, Wisc./Nicolet) are now 8-0 on the season after posting an 8-0 victory over Balazs Somogyi and Ben Karas.
Andrew McCarthy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hills) and Alexander Thams (Stockholm, Sweden/Enskilda Gymnasiet) also did not drop a game en route to their 8-0 win over Scott Mauer and Bret Mega at No. 3. At the top spot, Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska - Independent Study H.S.) and Tobias Reitz (Reinbeck, Germany/Sachsenwaldschule Reinbeck) handled the Lewis team of Tonis Irdoja and Uno Lapimaa easily with an 8-4 victory.
With the doubles point in hand, it was off to the races for the `Cats as they won four matches with identical 6-0, 6-0 scores in less than 40 minutes. Philip Kafka (Dallas, Texas/Greenhill) was the first off the courts with his victory over the Flyers' Chris Thomas at No. 6.
Kafka was quickly followed by captain Alex Sanborn at No. 3 as he broke Somogyi six times en route to his 6-0, 6-0 finish. The trend continued at No. 5, where Josh Graves sealed his match over Scott Mauer with a forehand passing shot down the line.
NU's final 6-0, 6-0 score came at No. 4 with Eric Spector's (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) win over Flyer Ben Karas. Continuing his trend from the Ball State match earlier in the afternoon, the Wildcat freshman won with an ace down the T.
At No. 2, Reitz posted a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Lewis' Irdoja, finishing the match with a service winner to put the `Cats up 6-0.
Senior Marc Dwyer faced a stiff challenge at No. 1, trading sets with Flyer Uno Lapimaa before sending it into a match tiebreak. Dwyer dominated in the tiebreak and was up 4-1 when Lapimaa stopped play, needing a bandage for a blister on his racket hand. In a show of sportsmanship, Northwestern's Graves happened to have a Band-Aid and dropped it from the stands to the court below. Dwyer went on to win the match breaker, 10-2.
Northwestern is back on the road for the next match as they travel to face No. 25 Notre Dame on Thursday, February 19. The `Cats return home next weekend and face Western Michigan and Harvard on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Players Mentioned
