Toby Reitz played a back-and-forth three-set match at No. 3 singles but suffered his first singles loss of the dual season.Toby Reitz played a back-and-forth three-set match at No. 3 singles but suffered his first singles loss of the dual season.

Northwestern Battles but Falls Short vs. Princeton, 7-0

Feb. 5, 2011

Complete Results

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Combe Tennis Center)
Score: No. 73 Princeton 7, No. 60 Northwestern 0
Records: NU (4-1, 0-0 Big Ten), Princeton (2-0, 0-0 Ivy League)
Next NU Event: Friday, Feb. 11 at NC State • Raleigh, N.C. • 3 p.m. CT

EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 60 Northwestern was narrowly edged out for the doubles point and ran into a red-hot Princeton singles lineup, falling to the 73rd-ranked Tigers, 7-0, Saturday evening at the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston. The loss is the first of the 2011 dual season for the Wildcats (4-1).

Princeton now has wins over Big Ten teams in each of its first two matches, having defeated Penn State, 4-3, in its season-opener.

For the first time this season, NU could not manage to claim the doubles point. With the No. 3 match tied at five, Princeton's Alex Faust and Yohei Shoji notched a hold and a key break of serve to gain a 7-5 edge on NU's Eric Spector and Chris Jackman. Princeton held on in its final service game to win the match, 8-5.

After falling behind 2-0 in their No. 1 doubles match, NU's Joshua Graves and Spencer Wolf responded by winning six straight games to seize control of the match. Princeton's Matija Pecotic and Matt Siow took the next three, however, but Graves and Wolf recovered to close out the match, 8-6.

That left the doubles point to be decided by the No. 2 contest, which was an even one from the get-go, with NU's Tobias Reitz and Andrew McCarthy tied at four midway through the match against Michael Lin and Augie Bloom. The Princeton duo was able to persevere down the stretch, however, clinching a 1-0 Tiger lead entering singles with an 8-5 victory.

Princeton was able to make it 3-0 with the first two singles matches to finish, a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 6 by Alex Faust over Jackman followed by a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 win by Augie Bloom over NU's Andrew McCarthy.

On court six, Spector trailed Dan Richardson a set and 5-2 in the second before rallying to take two games off the Tiger. Spector led the ensuing game but could not hold on as Richardson clinched the Princeton dual victory with a 6-4 win in the second.

In the No. 1 match, Joshua Graves held a 5-4 lead in the first on Pecotic before the Tiger was able to counter and win the set 7-5. Pecotic notched a service break in the fourth game of the second set only to have Graves answer to make it 3-2. But Pecotic never let up after that, closing out the set by a 6-2 score, to deal Graves his first loss of the season.

Reitz came out in the first set of his No. 3 match against Siow on top of his game, winning it 6-3, but fell in the second, 6-4. Down a break at 3-1 in the third, Reitz held serve before an epic sixth game eventually fell in favor of Siow, which the Tiger capitalized on to go on and win the set, 6-2.

Spencer Wolf climbed to within a game of closing out his No. 2 match with Matt Spindler in straight sets, leading 7-5, 5-4, but Spindler responded by winning three games in a row to reach a third-set tiebreaker. Wolf jumped to a 4-2 lead at the changeover and protected a 7-5 advantage at the second change of ends. But Spindler managed to catch Wolf at 8-8 and finished off the tiebreaker with a score of 10-8.

Next weekend, Northwestern ventures on the road to face North Carolina State in Raleigh at 3 p.m. CT on Friday, Feb. 11.

No. 73 Princeton 7, No. 60 Northwestern 0
Singles:
1: Matija Pecotic (PU) def. Joshua Graves (NU), 7-5, 6-2
2: Matt Spindler (PU) def. Spencer Wolf (NU), 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10-8)
3: Matt Siow (PU) def. Tobias Reitz (NU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
4: Augie Bloom (PU) def. Andrew McCarthy (NU), 7-5, 6-3
5: Dan Richardson (PU) def. Eric Spector (NU), 6-3, 6-4
6: Alex Faust (PU) def. Chris Jackman (NU), 6-3, 6-2

Doubles:
1: Graves/Wolf (NU) def. Pecotic/Siow (PU), 8-6
2: Lin/Bloom (PU) def. McCarthy/Reitz (NU), 8-5
3: Faust/Shoji (PU) def Jackman/Spector (NU), 8-5

Order of Finish:
Singles (6, 4, 5*, 1, 2, 3)
Doubles (3, 1, 2*)

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