Northwestern University Athletics
Men's Tennis Gears Up for Final Eight Matches
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 22, 1999
EVANSTON, Ill. - After one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules which featured eight of 12 dual matches against teams in the Top 30, the Wildcats are gearing up for their last eight matches of the year, all against Big Ten foes.
The Team: The Northwestern men's tennis team (5-7, 0-2 Big Ten) is playing with four underclassmen in the lineup and is still ranked No. 33 in the country according to the March 8 ITA rankings. The Wildcats are coming off last weekend's 1-2 performance at the Blue Gray Classic held in Montgomery, Alabama. After knocking off No. 53-ranked North Carolina State, 4-3 in the opening round, Northwestern dropped two dual matches to #10 SMU (5-1) and #16 Harvard (4-2).
Bohaboy on the Year: At the Blue Gray Classic, team captain Doug Bohaboy surpassed the 20-win mark in singles play for the fourth-consecutive year. He almost went a perfect 3-0 with two wins over players ranked ahead of him, and he nearly upset the country's top-ranked singles player, James Blake of Harvard. Bohaboy posted victories over North Carolina State's Roberto Bracone (4-6, 6-0, 6-0) and SMU's Ignacio Hirigoyen (6-3, 6-3). Bracone is ranked No. 38 and Hirigoyen is ranked No. 10. Against Blake, Bohaboy won the first set, 7-6 (6), but dropped the next two, 6-7 (6), 2-6.
Northwestern's No. 1 singles player since Feb. 20, Bohaboy owns a team-high 20 singles victories and a 20-12 record overall. He was ranked No. 89 according to the March 8th ITA computer rankings.
In doubles competition, Bohaboy and junior teammate Martin Bengtsson are ranked No. 21 in the nation with a 6-6 mark solely at the No. 1 spot.
Head Coach Paul Torricelli: The school's all-time winningest men's tennis coach is nine wins shy of reaching the 250-win plateau. He owns a career record of 241-161 during 16 years at Northwestern.
Up Next: Northwestern will resume action on April 3 and 4 when it hosts Iowa and Wisconsin, respectively. Both matches are scheduled to begin at noon.
