Arvid Swan heads to his fourth Big Ten Tournament as head coach of the Wildcats.Arvid Swan heads to his fourth Big Ten Tournament as head coach of the Wildcats.

Northwestern Meets Michigan State in First Round of Big Ten Tournament

April 27, 2011

Northwestern (11-13, 2-8 Big Ten) vs. Michigan State (17-8, 3-7 Big Ten)
Big Ten Tournament First Round
Thursday, April 28
A.C. Nielsen Tennis Center
Madison, Wis. • 9 a.m.
Live Results: Big Ten Tournament Website
2011 Big Ten Men's Tennis Tournament Bracket Get Acrobat Reader

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's second season begins Thursday when head coach Arvid Swan and the Wildcats venture to the University of Wisconsin to compete in the 2011 Big Ten Men's Tennis Tournament. Ninth-seeded NU will square off with eighth-seeded Michigan State in the opening match of the event seeking to avenge a narrow 4-3 loss to the Spartans last Friday.

Visit the official website of the Big Ten Tournament on UWBadgers.com for a complete look at matchups, schedules and for links to live stats throughout the tournament.

The Wildcats will be looking for a repeat of their performance at the 2010 Big Ten Tournament when NU gutted out a thrilling 4-3 win over Penn State in the 8-9 matchup, turning the tables after having lost a 4-3 outcome to the Nittany Lions in the regular-season finale. Then-freshman Chris Jackman came through for NU in that first-round victory, outlasting PSU's Taylor Cohen in a decisive win at No. 6, 7-6 (4), 6-7, 6-3.

This year's edition of the Wildcats still have fresh memories of a tough 4-3 loss at the hands of the Spartans on April 22 in Evanston. Northwestern won the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches and received singles wins from sophomore Spencer Wolf and senior Andrew McCarthy, but ultimately MSU's Denis Bogatov eked out a tiebreaker in the third set at No. 1 to clinch the dual.

Senior Andrew McCarthy will be out to make the most of his final Big Ten Tournament the way he did his final weekend of home dual play. McCarthy won his singles match against the Spartans' Ronnie Hulewicz on Friday and came back to defeat Michigan's Chris Cha the following day in three sets. He also has won his last three doubles outings playing at No. 2 alongside Tobias Reitz as the tandem improved to 14-8 this season.

NU's strong doubles point, which has earned a 1-0 lead entering singles in 17 of 24 duals, could be a decisive factor in another close match. The Wildcats lost five 4-3 outcomes during the 2011 regular season.

A win over Michigan State Thursday would set Northwestern up for a match against Big Ten champion Ohio State (27-2, 10-0) at 10 a.m. CT Friday.

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