Northwestern
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Western Michigan
Wildcats Tame Western Michigan Broncos, 5-2
2/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 21, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- In the first of two weekend duals, Northwestern pulled out a 5-2 victory over the Western Michigan Broncos Saturday afternoon at Combe Tennis Center. NU improves to 9-1 on the season, with its only loss coming to No. 25 Notre Dame on Thursday.
Northwestern jumped out to an early lead by pulling out two doubles matches at No. 1 and No. 3. Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) and Tobias Reitz (Reinbeck, Germany/Sachsenwaldschule Reinbeck) cruised to an 8-3 win over WMU's Michael Calderone and Zeyad Montasser, a duo that opened the season ranked No. 33 in the country
Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and Joshua Graves (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet) dropped their first decision of the dual match season with an 8-3 loss at No. 2 to Casey Cullen and Kevin Hayward.
In a match filled with long volley exchanges, Andrew McCarthy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hills) and Alexander Thams (Stockholm, Sweden/Enskilda Gymnasiet) clinched the doubles point for the `Cats, dropping Kazuya Komada and Pablo Olivarez, 8-2.
Western Michigan tied it up at 1-all with a Michael Calderone victory at No. 2 over freshman Tobias Reitz. After taking the first set, 6-1, Calderone broke to open the second and that proved to be the only break of the set. Reitz staved off two match points, but the Bronco sophomore managed to serve out the match, 6-4, for the straight set win.
Both Sanborn and Graves avenged their doubles loss by storming back in singles with straight-set victories. The Wildcats regained the lead with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 4 by Sanborn over the Broncos' Olivarez. The junior captain was in control throughout the match, dropping his serve only once.
Northwestern's lead increased to 3-1 with a victory at No. 5 by Graves over Western Michigan's Montasser. The Wildcat freshman breezed through the first set, 6-1, smacking an ace on set point. The second set proved to be more of a challenge, but Graves held on for the 6-4 win.
Western Michigan stayed close with a 6-4, 6-4 win by Casey Cullen over Peter Rispoli (Naples, Fla./St. Stephen's (Texas)) at No. 6.
At No. 3, Thams took on the Mid-American Conference's player of the week in Bronco freshman Kazuya Komada. Both players showed the strength of their return games, each breaking his opponent twice, before sending the first set to a tiebreak. Thams took control in the tiebreak, reeling off six straight points and sealing it with an overhead, 7-6(1).
In the second set, Thams jumped out to an early lead thanks to two breaks, but Komada showed his resiliency by quickly taking one back. Serving up 4-3, Thams withstood seven break points before taking the point with an overhead. Then on Komada's serve, the Wildcat forced the Bronco to dump a shot into the net on match point, clinching the dual for the `Cats.
No. 1 singles was an epic battle between two wily seniors in Marc Dwyer and Kevin Hayward. The first set stayed tight as Dwyer broke with a backhand winner only to have Hayward break back a few games later. In the first set tiebreak, Dwyer took control and a backhand down-the-line pushed the set in his favor, 7-6(4).
The two seniors were locked in the second set before Hayward called a medical timeout for an arm injury. The two players exchanged breaks after the timeout, but Dwyer broke for the final time and held on for the 6-4 victory.
The `Cats face a quick turnaround as they host No. 48 Harvard Sunday morning at Combe Tennis Center. Play is set to start at 10 a.m.
Northwestern 5, Western Michigan 2
Doubles:
1. Marc Dwyer/Tobias Reitz (NU) def. Zeyad Montasser/Michael Calderone (WMU) 8-3
2. Kevin Hayward/Casey Cullen (WMU) def. Joshua Graves/Alex Sanborn (NU) 8-3
3. Andrew McCarthy/Alexander Thams (NU) def. Kazuya Komada/Pablo Olivarez (WMU) 8-2
Singles:
1. Marc Dwyer (NU) def. Kevin Hayward (WMU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
2. Michael Calderone (WMU) def. Tobias Reitz (NU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Alexander Thams (NU) def. Kazuya Komada (WMU) 7-6 (7-1), 6-3
4. Alex Sanborn (NU) def. Pablo Olivarez (WMU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Joshua Graves (NU) def. Zeyad Montasser (WMU) 6-1, 6-4
6. Casey Cullen (WMU) def. Peter Rispoli (NU) 6-4, 6-4
Players Mentioned
