April 5, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern gave No. 12 Minnesota a scare before succumbing, 6-1, Saturday at the Combe Tennis Center. The Wildcats took an early 1-0 lead after winning the doubles point, but the Gophers held on for all six singles wins. With the loss, NU fell to 8-8 overall and 1-4 in Big Ten play. Minnesota improved to 15-3, 5-1.
Sophomores Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Chuck Perrin (Atlanta, Ga./The Walker School) defeated Avery Ticer and Thomas Haug, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles. NU clinched the first point of the match when Jackie Jenkins (College Park, Ga./Westlake) and Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) downed Aleksey Zharinov and Chris Wettengel, 8-6. Jenkins and Schaechterle improved to 3-0 as doubles partners.
The 'Cats dropped the first set of all six singles matches, but they rallied in three of the matches. Josh Axler (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman), Hanus and Ahmed Wahla(Lahore, Pakistan/Lahore American School) all extended their matches to three sets, but they each were defeated by a 6-3 margin in the decisive third set.
Northwestern is next in action Sunday against Iowa. Match time is set for noon Central time at the Combe Tennis Center.
No. 12 Minnesota 6, No. 47 Northwestern 1
Doubles
1. Tommy Hanus/Chuck Perrin (NU) def. Avery Ticer/Thomas Haug (MINN), 8-5
2. Manuel Lievano/Clay Estes (MINN) def. Josh Axler/Russell Bennett (NU), 8-6
3. Jackie Jenkins/Adam Schaechterle (NU) def. Aleksey Zharinov/Chris Wettengel (MINN), 8-6
Singles
1. #58 Haug (MINN) def. #121 Hanus (NU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
2. #63 Zharinov (MINN) def. Jenkins (NU), 6-1, 6-2
3. #95 Wettengel (MINN) def. Axler (NU), 6-2, 6-7, 6-3
4. Lievano (MINN) def. Perrin (NU), 6-1, 6-4
5. Estes (MINN) def. Schaechterle (NU), 6-1, 7-5
6. Eric Robertson (MINN) def. Ahmed Wahla (NU), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3