April 16, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- On a day full of surprises off the court, Northwestern's men's tennis team came through with a handful of performances that are sure to raise a few eyebrows throughout the world of collegiate tennis. While Illinois took Sunday's match 6-1, senior captain Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) knocked off the nation's No. 4 doubles team, while junior Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) won over the nation's 64th-ranked player and junior Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrugge) came within a point of upsetting No. 3 Ryler DeHeart.
"I was really proud of how we competed today," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "We played as hard and as good of a match as we have played all year and it was against a very good team. It was extremely close, much closer than the 6-1 score would indicate. I'm just really proud of the way we fought today, it was a match that we conceivably could have won as you can see by the scores, but Illinois really stepped up in crunch time, you have to give them credit."
Illinois struck first in the doubles contests as Tempke and Lock fell to the Illini's 17th-ranked doubles squad of Pramod Dabir and DeHeart, 8-3.
The Wildcats immediately responded with a huge upset at the No. 1 doubles spot. With the match even at 4-4, Schaechterle and Christian took four of the next six games to claim an 8-6 win over Illinois' third-ranked team of Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe. The 'Cats won thanks to superb ball control and Schaechterle capped off the match with a backhand winner to claim the duo's third-consecutive victory.
With the doubles point on the line, NU's team of freshmen Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico/South Florida) dropped its match at No. 3. The two trailed Illinois' Ruben Gonzalez and G.D. Jones 7-2 before winning two-straight games, but that's as close as the 'Cats would get as the Illini took the 8-4 victory and the doubles point.
Just as the teams began singles play, the weather rained on the Wildcats' parade, literally. The conditions forced a 20-minute delay as the two teams to moved indoors to complete singles play at the Combe Tennis Center. Once play resumed, the Wildcats showed they wouldn't give an inch to the Illini and fought in every match to regain ground on the nation's fifth-ranked team.
Illinois did strike first in singles, however, as the 60th-ranked Rowe earned a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Dwyer at No. 3.
At No. 5, Schaechterle battled hard against Illinois' Dabir. After dropping his first set, he took an early lead in the second and appeared to be cruising to the victory. Dabir came back with a late rally however and tied the match at 5-5. Dabir then won the next two games to claim the 3-6, 7-5 win, giving the Illini a 3-0 lead.
Illinois secured the win moments later as Gomez was edged by Anderson in the third set at the No. 3 position. Anderson won the first set handily, but Gomez came roaring back with an impressive second-set win. Gomez broke Anderson once in the third set, but the 20th-ranked singles player proved to be too much and took the 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory.
Freshman Alexey Evstratenkov (Moscow, Russia/Moscow International Gymnasia) rebounded after dropping his first set against Dabir to force a third set. There, the two went back and forth and ended up tied at 6-6. In the third-set tiebreak, Dabir outlasted Evstratenkov and took the 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4) win.
Lock got the Wildcats on the board with a solid performance at No. 2 singles. After falling in the first set to the 64th-ranked Jones, Lock rebounded to win the second set in the tiebreak, then claim the third set for the win. Lock, who took the match 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, has now won 10 of his last 12 matches and is 15-5 in dual play this season.
"Willy (Lock) is just playing great tennis," Torricelli said. "After the way he has been playing lately, and his win over a ranked opponent, I think it shows Willy really should be nationally ranked."
On this day, the two teams saved their best efforts for last as No. 55 Tempke and No. 3 DeHeart played a classic match at No. 1.
Tempke struck first as he outlasted DeHeart in a tiebreak to win the first set. After DeHeart claimed the second, the two went to a third set. Tempke sprinted out of the gate to a 5-3 lead and came within a point of claiming the victory in the set's 10th game. DeHeart won the deuce, however, and eventually the two were tied at 6-6 to force a set tiebreak. There, DeHeart served first and tallied six-straight points. He then scored on Tempke's lone serve of the tiebreak to earn the 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-6(0) win.
"Despite the fact that Christian (Tempke) lost, that was some great tennis between two great players."
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 11-9 overall on the year and 5-4 in conference play.
"This was just really a great college match," Torricelli said. Despite the fact that we lost, I think this was our best Big Ten match of the year."
The Wildcats look to get back on the winning track in their regular-season finale at Ohio State on Saturday, April 22. First serve is set for 11 a.m.
Tennis Match Results University of Illinois vs Northwestern University Apr 16, 2006 at Evanston, Ill.#5 University of Illinois 6, #61 Northwestern University 1 Singles competition: 1. #3 DeHeart, Ryler (ILL) def. #55 Tempke, Christian (NU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-0) 2. Lock, Willy (NU) def. #64 Jones, G.D. (ILL) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 3. #20 Anderson, Kevin (ILL) def. Gomez, Juan (NU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 4. #60 Rowe, Ryan (ILL) def. Dwyer, Marc (NU) 6-3, 6-2 5. Gonzales, Ruben (ILL) def. Schaechterle, Adam (NU) 6-3, 7-5 6. Dabir, Pramod (ILL) def. Evstratenkov, Alexey (NU) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles competition: 1. Schaechterle, Adam/Christian, Matt (NU) def. #4 Rowe, Ryan/Anderson, Kevin (ILL) 8-6 2. #17 Dabir, Pramod/DeHeart, Ryler (ILL) def. Tempke, Christian/Lock, Willy (NU) 8-3 3. Gonzales, Ruben/Jones, G.D. (ILL) def. Gomez, Juan/Dwyer, Marc (NU) 8-4
Match Notes: University of Illinois 18-5; National ranking #5 Northwestern University 11-9; National ranking #61 Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,5,3,6,2,1) Match postponed and moved indoors due to rain. Official: John Coleman T-4:09 A-100