March 23, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 51 Northwestern played the first of two road matches in the desert this week and came away with a win, downing Northern Arizona by a 5-2 margin in Phoenix on Monday. After sweeping doubles play, the Wildcats remained in control with four wins in singles competition to earn their 12th dual victory of the season.
Head coach Arvid Swan shuffled his doubles lineup a bit as Marc Dwyer and Alex Sanborn teamed up for the first time this spring at the No. 1 doubles position while Joshua Graves and Tobias Reitz joined forces at the second doubles spot. The exchange paid off as Dwyer and Sanborn notched an 8-0 shutout over David Flodberg and Jacob Tracy and Graves and Reitz overcame Andrew Reiff and Robin Pezzutto by an 8-4 count.
Meanwhile, Andrew McCarthy and Alexander Thams upped their dual doubles record to 9-2 with an 8-4 victory against Chris Arena and Jaco Visagie.
Singles play was closely contested in almost every match, as only Thams and NU freshman Eric Spector managed to get off the courts in just two sets. Spector won his sixth singles match 6-1, 6-1 against Tracy, marking his seventh dual win this season compared to just two losses. Thams defeated Flodberg 6-2, 6-0, improving to 11-4 in dual action in the process.
At first singles, Dwyer kept to his winning ways against Reiff, although he was pushed to the limits in the process. After falling behind with a 6-4 loss in the first set, Dwyer stayed alive by winning the second 7-6 before dominating in the match tiebreaker, 10-3, to claim his ninth dual win this season.
One other match, the No. 4 contest between Graves and Pezzutto, was settled in a match tiebreaker, but this time it was the Lumberjacks who earned the point. Graves took the second set 6-4 but fell in the extra session, 10-7.
Sanborn took three sets to secure a fifth point for Northwestern but continued his stellar singles play this season, moving to 13-3 overall.
Northwestern will use an off day on Tuesday to travel south to Tucson where it will face No. 20 Arizona at noon on Wednesday.
No. 51 Northwestern 5, Northern Arizona 2
Singles
No. 1: Marc Dwyer (NU) def. Andrew Reiff (NAU), 4-6, 7-6, 1-0 (3)
No. 2: Chris Arena (NAU) def. Tobias Reitz (NU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 3: Alexander Thams (NU) def. David Flodberg (NAU), 6-2, 6-0
No. 4: Robin Pezzutto (NAU) def. Joshua Graves, (NU) 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (7)
No. 5: Alex Sanborn (NU) def. Jaco Visagie (NAU), 2-6, 6-0, 6-2
No. 6: Eric Spector (NU) def. Jacob Tracy (NAU), 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1: Dwyer/Sanborn (NU) def. Flodberg/Tracy (NAU), 8-0
No. 2: Graves/Reitz (NU) def. Reiff/Pezzutto (NAU), 8-4
No. 3: McCarthy/Thams (NU) def. Arena/Visagie (NAU), 8-4