April 21, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's men's tennis team heads to Columbus, Ohio, this weekend for its regular-season finale versus No. 7 Ohio State at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 22, at the Stickney Tennis Center. The Wildcats are fifth in the conference standings and enter the match jockeying for position in the upcoming Big Ten Championships. The 'Cats could climb as high as third in the league dependent on the performances of No. 37 Minnesota and No. 39 Michigan, who are currently third and fourth in the Big Ten, respectively.
While the Wildcats have split their weekend series for the past three weeks, they are playing much better tennis than their record would indicate, and seem to be hitting their stride down the season's most important stretch. Northwestern rolled past Purdue 6-1 last week before falling to No. 3 Illinois 6-1. In their match versus the Illini, the 'Cats saw impressive performances in both singles and doubles.
Northwestern's doubles team of junior Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) and senior captain Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) is now ranked No. 41 in the ITA poll thanks to its 8-6 upset of Illinois' fourth-ranked team of Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe.
At the No. 1 singles position, 67th-ranked junior Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrügge) provided the crowd much to cheer about in a tight match with the nation's third-ranked singles player, Ryler DeHeart. While DeHeart won the match, Tempke had the reigning conference Athlete of the Week on his heels for much of the match and came within a point of sealing the victory over DeHeart.
Junior Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) came through with a win at No. 2 singles when he beat then-No. 64 G.D. Jones, and freshman Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico/South Florida) nearly upset the 20th-ranked Anderson at the No. 3 spot.
Tempke enters the Ohio State dual with a No. 67 ranking and a 17-13 overall record. Tempke's play as been better than his 11-9 dual record would indicate, however, and his play at the No. 1 position has impressed head coach Paul Torricelli.
No Wildcat has been hotter than Lock as of late. Lock owns a team-best 15-5 dual mark this season and has won 10 of his last 12 singles contests. Over the last two seasons, the junior has dropped only one match in the month of April, proving his importance to the team down the stretch.
In doubles, Schaechterle and Christian are ranked in the ITA poll for the first time since the February 22 poll. The Wildcats' tandem stands at 11-7 at the No. 1 doubles position this year and has taken victories in six of its last seven matches. The duo tallied a huge upset over Illinois' fourth-ranked doubles team last weekend, but will face another tough challenge by facing Ohio State's top-ranked doubles team this weekend.
Ohio State (20-1, 8-0) enters the match as the team to beat in the Big Ten. With two matches remaining and a one game lead over Illinois and Minnesota, the Buckeyes can clinch at least a share of the regular-season conference title with a win over Northwestern Saturday. They can clinch the outright title with a win over Wisconsin Sunday. OSU is riding an 11-match winning streak and has won 14 of its last 15 contests.
The Buckeyes have found success in doubles and singles this season, but their best performances have come from their top-ranked doubles team of Scott Green and Ross Wilson. The duo is ranked No. 1 in the ITA Division I doubles is 19-1 in dual matches this season.
The Buckeyes have four singles players ranked in the Top-115. Bryan Koniecko is No. 38 nationally, followed by Chris Klingemann at No. 104, Devin Mullings at No. 109, and Steven Moneke at No. 111. Klingemann is 20-6, Mullings has a record of 22-9, while Koniecko is 19-11 and Moneke is 14-6 in their rookie seasons. The Buckeyes play by committee at the No. 1 spot, but Mullings has seen the most time there, posting a 3-4 record at the top spot.
Ohio State is coached by Ty Tucker, who has compiled a 148-42 record in seven seasons with the Buckeyes.
The last time these two teams met, Northwestern earned a 5-2 win over the Buckeyes on April 23, 2005, in Evanston.
Northwestern leads the all-time series with OSU 52-34-0.