April 12, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern is set to travel to Minnesota and Iowa for its last road trip of the regular season. The 'Cats face the Gophers at 1 p.m. Friday before taking on the Hawkeyes at Noon Sunday.
"This road trip is going to be a big challenge," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "The guys are determined to rebound from last weekend and knowing how the guys fight, I'm confident we'll bounce back."
Last Time Out
Northwestern dropped a pair of Big Ten contests last weekend to second-ranked Ohio State and 71st-ranked Indiana. On Sunday, Northwestern fought back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the dual at three apiece, but Indiana edged the Wildcats, 4-3.
Indiana's David Bubenicek captured a third-set tiebreaker over senior Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LobrÜgge) to clinch the dual.
Indiana led 3-1 after taking the first three singles matches, but wins by junior Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) and freshman Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) tied the score at 3-3 with Tempke's match to decide the dual. Bubenicek took the first set from Tempke, 6-1, but the senior took a 7-4 tiebreaker in the second to even the match at a set apiece.
The Hoosier held serve to take a 6-5 lead in the third, but Tempke served his way to a third-set tiebreaker with the dual on the line. The tiebreaker stayed on serve until Bubenicek broke Tempke to take a 4-3 lead. Bubenicek held twice to take a 6-3 lead and won the breaker, 7-4.
The Wildcats captured the doubles point behind a win by Sanborn and Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./Univ. of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) in a tiebreaker.
Northwestern Will Present First Ever Arlie Weiss Memorial Sportsmanship Award
Northwestern head coach Paul Torricelli has announced the creation of the Arlie Weiss Memorial Sportsmanship Award. The award, which will be presented annually, is in honor of Arlie Weiss, mother of Danny and Robbie Weiss, who were both accomplished college tennis players.
"The award will be presented annually to the Northwestern men's tennis player who consistently displays outstanding sportsmanship and represents the University in a first class manner," Torricelli said. "Mrs. Weiss was a devoted mother of two outstanding players and an avid tennis fan. Sportsmanship was of great importance to her and she valued that above any of their accomplishments."
Tempke -- the first recipient -- will receive the award at a presentation prior to Northwestern's Senior Day contest against Michigan State on April 22. Tempke, a two-time All-Big Ten and Academic All-Big Ten selection, is currently ranked 107th nationally in singles and was NU's sportsmanship award nominee for the Big Ten as a sophomore.
"I can't think of a greater honor than this for any player," Torricelli said. "Mrs. Weiss was such a wonderful role model for her sons and took great pride in their sportsmanship. Christian has been a true gentleman on the court not only this season, but throughout his career. He was a natural as our first award recipient."
Mrs. Weiss' sons, Danny and Robbie, were the among the greatest tennis players to ever come out of Illinois. Danny was a three-time All-Big Ten selection (1982, 83, 85) for Northwestern and was the IHSA Boy's Singles Champion in 1980 and 81. Robbie was an All-American at Pepperdine and was the 1988 NCAA Singles champion. He won the IHSA singles title in 1982.
Northwestern will present this award as well as honor its three seniors: Tempke, Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice), in a ceremony prior to its regular season finale at noon Sunday, April 22, against Michigan State.