April 20, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - After posting a 3-1 record over a two-week road trip, Northwestern returns to Evanston this weekend to close out the regular season against No. 24 Ohio State at Noon, Sunday, April 24. Head coach Paul Torricelli and the Wildcats will honor seniors Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine), Justin Hoeveler (Ross, Calif./The Branson School) and Chuck Perrin (Atlanta, Ga./The Walker School) in the final home match of their careers. Assuming cooperative weather, the match will take place outside at Vandy Christie Tennis Center.
The `Cats (10-11 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) will try to fend off a strong Buckeye team (15-6, 7-1) that is fighting for a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship and could win the title outright. Heading into the final weekend of competition, OSU trails No. 4 Illinois by one match. A Fighting Illini loss and Buckeye sweep over their weekend foes would have the two teams tied at the top of the league.
Northwestern will be fresh on Sunday, as Ohio State is its only weekend competition. The Buckeyes, on the other hand, will put their five-match winning streak to the test at Wisconsin, April 22.
Ohio State has won 12 of its last 13, and is coming off two-consecutive weekends at home, during which the Buckeyes went 5-0 to close out their second-consecutive perfect season at home.
This past weekend, Ohio State dominated the state of Michigan by defeating the Wolverines, 6-1, and blanking the Spartans, 7-0.
No. 58 Devin Mullings and No. 67 Joey Atas are the Buckeyes' top guns. Their doubles team of Scott Green and Ross Wilson is the best in the land -- ranked No. 1 in the nation. But that duo showed some vulnerability this past weekend by losing to Spartans Formanczyk and Rinks, 9-7. Wilson sometimes teams with Drew Eberly to form the nation's No. 37 duo. Eberly, a freshman, is a Chicago-area product out of Lake Forest, Ill.
Hanus and Perrin should match up nicely with whoever the Buckeyes throw out at No. 1. The senior duo has won six of its last eight, and gave the doubles team from No. 4 Illinois a great match, barely falling, 8-6.
In addition to Hanus and Perrin coming along as of late, sophomores Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) and Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) are currently riding six and four-match winning streaks, respectively.
A winner of nine of his last 10 matches, Lock continues to make a strong bid for the all-Big Ten team with his team-leading 23-8 overall record and 8-1 mark in the conference.
Hoeveler is coming off a 9-8 win against Purdue at No. 3 doubles alongside Lock.
Northwestern holds a 51-34 all-time advantage over the Buckeyes.