March 3, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 68 Northwestern (6-7, 0-2) welcomes the 29th-ranked Commodores of Vanderbilt University to the Combe Tennis Center at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 4. The Wildcats hope to bounce back from a disappointing 7-0 conference loss last weekend at Penn State and look to improve to .500 in dual competition this season.
Vanderbilt (8-2, 1-1) is coming off a 4-3 comeback win versus South Carolina last weekend.
The Wildcats, who have posted a 5-2 mark in home competition this season, already have recorded three 7-0 shutouts at home in seven matches since January. Each of Northwestern's losses this season have come against opponents ranked nationally at 43rd or better, including three losses against Top 25 teams. The Commodores only two losses this season have come against opponents both ranked nationally in the Top 20.
Sophomore captain Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) continues to shine in singles play, posting an overall record of 9-4 in dual play this season. He is currently an impressive 3-0 from No. 3 and 5-1 from No. 2 in singles competition.
The doubles duo of Alexander Thams (Stockholm, Sweden/Enskilda Gymnasiet) and Peter Rispoli (Naples, Fla./St. Stephens (Texas)) continue to perform well at 9-4 in overall dual play, while Sanborn and Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska Independent Study) are coming off an 8-6 doubles victory at Penn State last weekend.
The Wildcats travel to Wisconsin this weekend to take on the Badgers (5-5, 0-0) at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 8.