April 28, 2006
MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwestern's seventh-seeded men's tennis fell to second-seeded Illinois Friday, 5-0, ending its run in the 2006 Big Ten Men's Tennis Championships. The Illini claimed the doubles point, then took four singles matches in straight sets for the win.
"I think we were beaten by a better team today," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "They're just on another level right now. A week ago I said Ohio State was the best team we played all year, but I may have to reconsider that after today. This Illini team was not the same one we saw two weeks ago."
The Illini started the match by quickly winning the doubles point with a pair of 8-2 decisions.
Illinois' 17th-ranked team of Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart claimed the first match, beating Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrügge) at No. 2.
Ruben Gonzales and G.D. Jones then clinched the doubles point for the Illini with a win at No. 3 over Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study HS) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico/South Florida).
The match at No. 1 was abandoned once the doubles point was clinched, but NU's 42nd-ranked team of Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) and Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) again played tough versus Illinois' fourth-ranked team of Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe. NU's team, which beat the Illinois team two weeks ago in Evanston, trailed 6-5 at the time the match was abandoned.
The Illini took the momentum from the doubles matches right into singles play.
Illinois' Marc Spicijaric gave the Illini a 2-0 lead when he topped Schaechterle at No. 5 singles 6-1, 6-1.
The Illini's 23rd-ranked Anderson then beat Lock 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2, extending Illinois' lead to 3-0.
No. 87 Jones then clinched the match for UI when he topped Gomez at the No. 3 spot 6-1, 6-2.
While singles matches are normally abandoned once the match is clinched, the singles match at No. 1 finished so soon after the No. 3 match that it was counted as a result.
There, No. 9 DeHeart beat No. 66 Tempke 6-3, 6-2, giving Illinois the 5-0 win.
At No. 4 Dwyer won his first set versus the 71st-ranked Rowe, but Rowe came back to take the second set. The two were about to begin the third-set tiebreak when the match was abandoned. The score was 7-5, 2-6.
With the loss, Northwestern falls to 12-11 on the season, 6-6 in the Big Ten.
NU now waits to see if it is selected for the upcoming 2006 NCAA Championships.
Illinois (2) vs. Northwestern (7) 2006 Big Ten Championship - Quarterfinal April 28, 2006 Baseline Tennis Center Minneapolis, Minn.Singles 1. #9 Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. #66 Christian Tempke (NU), 6-3, 6-2 2. #23 Kevin Anderson (ILL) def. Willy Lock (NU), 6-0, 6-4 3. #87 GD Jones (ILL) def. Juan Gomez (NU), 6-1, 6-2 4. Marc Dwyer (NU) vs. #71 Ryan Rowe (ILL), 7-5, 2-6, abd. 5. Marc Spicijaric (ILL) def. Adam Schaechterle (NU), 6-1, 6-1 6. Ruben Gonzales (ILL) vs. Alexey Evstratenkov (NU), abd. Order of finish: 5,2,3,1
Doubles 1. #4 Anderson/Rowe (ILL) led #42 Christian/Schaechterle (NU), 6-5, abd. 2. #17 Pramod Dabir/DeHeart (ILL) def Lock/Tempke (NU), 8-2 3. Gonzales/Jones (ILL) def. Dwyer/Gomez (NU), 8-2 Order of finish: 2,3
Illinois (2) def. Northwestern (7), 5-0