Northwestern
Indiana
No. 46 Men's Tennis Defeats No. 57 Indiana
3/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 2, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Though the match may have been closer than the score indicated, the No. 46 Northwestern men's tennis team defeated No. 57 Indiana 5-2 Saturday at the Combe Tennis Center.
The 'Cats improve to 9-3 overall and remain perfect in Big Ten Conference play with a 4-0 mark. Indiana falls to 6-4 and takes their first conference loss.
Senior Jamie Sahara (Santa Maria, Calif./St. Joseph) clinched the team victory for the second time in as many matches. He defeated Zach Held 6-2, 6-4. The match almost didn't go Sahara's way, as Held rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the second set, but NU's co-captain was able to hold off the comeback.
Freshman Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) won his first match at the No. 1 doubles position, defeating Milan Rakvica 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Josh Axler (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) and Joost Hol (Newport Beach, Calif./Foothill) also picked up singles victories.
Earlier on, NU picked up the doubles point with wins at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions. In a new doubles pairing, Ryan Edlefsen (Eden Prairie, Minn./Bloomington Jefferson) and Axler teamed up to defeat Ryan Recht and Ari Widlansky 8-6.
The match, which lasted just under four hours, was lengthened by Jackie Jenkins' (College Park, Ga./Westlake) match against Tom Bagnato. The contest was close throughout, with Bagnato coming out on top, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
The Wildcats, now 6-1 at home, take to the road next weekend to face Harvard.
No. 50 Northwestern 5, No. 57 Indiana 2
Doubles
1. Tommy Hanus/Russell Bennett def. Milan Rakvica/Zach Held, 8-6
2. Jakub Praibis/Reid Strand def. Jackie Jenkins/Chuck Perrin, 8-3
3. Ryan Edlefsen/Josh Axler def. Ari Widlansky/Ryan Recht, 8-6
Singles
1. Tommy Hanus def. Milan Rakvica, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. Jakub Praibis def. Ryan Edlefsen, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
3. Jamie Sahara def. Zach Held, 6-2, 6-4
4. Tom Bagnato def. Jackie Jenkins, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5
5. Josh Axler def. Ryan Recht, 6-3, 6-3
6. Joost Hol def. Jullien Vulliez, 6-2, 6-3
