March 30, 2007
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Northwestern surrendered the doubles point to Purdue, but won five singles matches to top the Boilermakers Friday afternoon, 5-2. Senior Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) captured the clincher at No. 4 singles.
The Wildcats improve to 2-2 in the Big Ten, 7-9 overall, while the Boilermakers fall to 8-6, 1-3 in conference.
"We got off to a slow start in doubles," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "We found our stride in singles and Matt (Christian) sealed the match for us."
Purdue captured the doubles point with wins at No.1 and No. 3. NU's lone win came at No. 2 doubles where the pair of Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./Univ. of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) downed Eric Hodgman and Kurt Zaske, 8-4.
Branko Kuzmanovic and Paul Rose upset the 54th-ranked pair of Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Christian, 8-6, while Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LohbrÜgge) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) fell in a tight match at the No. 3 spot to Paul Foley and Griffin Nienberg, 9-7.
Tempke evened the dual with a straight-set win over Rose at No. 2, 6-4, 6-3. Lock put the 'Cats ahead for good with a straight-set win at No. 1 over Kuzmanovic, 6-2, 6-4.
Dwyer made the score 3-1 when he downed Hodgman at No. 3, 6-2, 7-5, and Christian clinched the dual with his win at No. 4 over Zaske, 6-4, 6-4.
Sanborn needed three sets to top Scott Warner at No. 6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and Gomez fell in a three-setter at No. 5 to Foley, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, to make the final score 5-2.
The Wildcats return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday at eighth-ranked Illinois.