Feb. 18, 2011

Complete Results

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Combe Tennis Center)
Score: No. 28 Vanderbilt 4, No. 69 Northwestern 3
Records: NU (5-3, 0-0 Big Ten) Vanderbilt (7-1, 0-0 SEC)
Next NU Event: Saturday, Feb. 19 vs. Northern Illinois • Evanston, Ill. • 11 a.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Battling a 28th-ranked Vanderbilt squad that last week defeated two top-25 opponents, No. 69 Northwestern claimed the doubles point and pushed the Commodores to four three-set singles matches. But Vandy was able to clinch the dual with a win in the final match on the court to edge NU, 4-3, Friday in Evanston.

Sophomore Spencer Wolf, who opened the dual with an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles alongside Joshua Graves, fought VU's Charlie Jones for over three hours at the decisive No. 2 singles match. Wolf won the first set in tiebreakers while Jones took the second, 6-3, setting up a third set where both competitors fought hard to hold serve through six games.

The two then traded breaks in dramatic fashion before Wolf fought off a break point to hold and go up 5-4. The 'Cat won the first two points in the ensuing game but Jones ultimately held and went on to take a 6-5 lead with a break. Jones put away the win at 7-5 in the next game to allow the Commodores to escape with the 4-3 victory.

The win was a marked improvement for an NU team that had fallen by 6-1 scores in each of its last two meetings with Vanderbilt.

"I thought that we played very hard but in the end it wasn't quite enough to win," said head coach Arvid Swan. "Spencer battled hard all night, I'll always take my chances with him as the last player on the court."

Northwestern managed to claim the first doubles win off the courts as Spencer Wolf and Joshua Graves led by scores of 4-1 and 7-2 against the Vanderbilt team of Alex Zotov and Charlie Jones at the No. 1 spot. Wolf and Graves surrendered one final game but won following several deuce points in the next game to close out the match 8-3.

The visitors from Vanderbilt came right back with a win of their own at No. 2, with 33rd-ranked Ryan Lipman and Adam Baker breaking open what was a close match in the early going to down Tobias Reitz and Andrew McCarthy, 8-3.

The outcome of doubles was then left to No. 3, where NU's Chris Jackman and Raleigh Smith were in a back-and-forth match with Vandy's Alex DiValerio and Bryant Salcedo. With NU trailing 6-5, an overhand slam by Jackman ensured a hold of serve for the Wildcats to even the score once again at 6-all.

DiValerio and Salcedo staved off one break point in the next game to hold serve, but the Wildcats held also to set the score at 7-7. After NU broke serve in the next game, Vanderbilt responded by fighting off two match points to send the match to a breaker, where NU sped to a 6-1 lead. The Wildcats then put the match away on their fifth match point of the evening, winning the breaker 7-3 to hand Northwestern a 1-0 advantage and improve to 3-0 as a dual doubles tandem.

Each and every singles match began in tight fashion, with five of the six first sets being decided by either a 7-5 score or a tiebreaker. That included the No. 1 singles match where Graves battled a very talented Ryan Lipman to a 7-5 loss in the first set. Hampered by a hand injury suffered in the late stages of the first set, Graves dropped the second by a 6-0 score as Vanderbilt pulled level at 1-1.

Andrew McCarthy regained a lead for NU thanks to an impressive second set, defeating Salcedo by a 7-5, 6-3 score at No. 4 for his fifth victory of the dual season. The Commodores answered as Zotov ran away from the Northwestern freshman Raleigh Smith in the third to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Northwestern picked up a boost from a return to the lineup by sophomore Sidarth Balaji, who took on Adam Baker at No. 3 singles. After battling to a tiebreak win in the first, Balaji dropped a brief 6-2 set in the second but rose to the occasion in the third to win by a 6-3 score.

But the 'Dores pulled out another three-set match on court two as Blake Bazarnik held off Chris Jackman's comeback charge down the stretch to pick up a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory and set up the dramatic conclusion at No. 2 singles.

Friday's match was only the start of a busy weekend for the Wildcats, who return to competition at 11 a.m. Saturday against Northern Illinois before facing Western Illinois in the latter half of a doubleheader at 5:30 p.m.

No. 28 Vanderbilt 4, No. 69 Northwestern 3
Singles:
1: #57 Ryan Lipman (VU) def. Joshua Graves (NU), 7-5, 6-0
2: Charlie Jones (VU) def. Spencer Wolf (NU), 6-7, 6-3, 7-5
3: Sidarth Balaji (NU) def. Adam Baker (VU), 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3
4: Andrew McCarthy (NU) def. Bryant Salcedo (VU), 7-5, 6-3
5: Blake Bazarnik (VU) def. Chris Jackman (NU), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
6: Alex Zotov (VU) def. Raleigh Smith (NU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-0

Doubles:
1: Graves/Wolf (NU) def. Jones/Zotov (VU), 8-3
2: Baker/Lipman (VU) def. Reitz/McCarthy (NU), 8-3
3: Jackman/Smith (NU) def. DiValerio/Salcedo (VU), 9-8 (3)

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

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