Oct. 18, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After a strong start to the fall season at the All-American Championships, the Wildcats are looking to carry momentum into the ITA Midwest Regional Championships hosted by the University of Minnesota. The doubles tandem of Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) won three matches to qualify for the All-American Championships and advanced to the second round of the main draw.
Christian, along with sophomore Alexey Evstratenkov (Moscow, Russia/Moscow International Gymnasia) and senior Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LohbrÜgge) will take to the court Saturday in the main singles draw. Freshman Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas) will attempt to advance through the qualifying draw.
In doubles, Lock and Christian have a spot in the main draw, while the pairings of Tempke and Gomez, as well as Evstratenkov and Sanborn will try to advance through the qualifying draw.
"The regional tournament is a great opportunity during the fall season for our guys to get some competitive match play," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "It's also a chance for our guys to qualify for the National Indoor Championships in February. We've got some outstanding players in our region and it's always and early season test. We're particularly excited about Matt and Willy after their recent performance at the ITA All-American in Tulsa."
Play begins Thursday at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
Northwestern Doubles Teams:
Matt Christian / Willy Lock
Christian Tempke / Juan Gomez
Alex Sanborn / Alexey Evstratenkov
Wildcats in singles main draw:
Tempke
Evstratenkov
Lock
Christian