Northwestern
Harvard
`Battle of the Brains' Goes to Northwestern
3/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 9, 2002
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Northwestern considers itself on par with Harvard in an academic setting, but on Saturday NU's men's tennis team proved it was superior in a collegiate tennis setting by defeating the Crimson, 5-2.
The No. 46 Wildcats (10-3, 4-0 Big Ten) handed No. 43 Harvard their first loss of the season in a match that head coach Paul Torricelli was thrilled with.
"We played great," he said. "It was a really good match."
National rankings were of little advantage to Harvard's players, as NU's doubles team of Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Russell Bennett (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) defeated the No. 26 tandem of Oliver Choo and Jon Chu, 9-8(5).
"Tommy and Russell were down 6-1, then came back," Torricelli recounted. "They saved two match points at 7-6 and then went on to win the tiebreaker. It was great."
A win by Jackie Jenkins (College Park, Ga./Westlake) and Chuck Perrin (Atlanta, Ga./The Walker School) secured the doubles point for the `Cats.
In singles action, NU found themselves behind in the count as Jamie Sahara (Santa Maria, Calif./St. Joseph) and Ryan Edlefsen (Eden Prairie, Minn./Bloomington Jefferson) were quickly defeated in their matches. Edlefsen sprained his ankle in the first set, but continued the match.
Down by a point, the `Cats won the remaining four singles matches, including Hanus' victory over David Lingman in the No. 1 singles position. At No. 4, Josh Axler clinched the victory for NU with a 7-5, 7-5 win over No. 83 William Lee.
The Wildcats have some time off before returning to the courts in California during Spring Break. They play at San Diego March 26 and at Fresno State March 28.
No. 46 Northwestern 5, No. 43 Harvard 2
Doubles
1. Tommy Hanus/Russell Bennett, NU, def. No. 26 Oliver Choo/Jon Chu, 9-8(5)
2. Jackie Jenkins/Chuck Perrin, NU, def. Chris Chiou/David Lingman, 8-3
3. No. 55 Dali Snyder/Mark Riddell, HU, def. Ryan Edlefsen/Josh Axler, 8-3
Singles
1. Tommy Hanus, NU, def. David Lingman, 7-5, 6-3
2. No. 90 Jon Chu, HU, def. Jamie Sahara, 6-3, 6-2
3. Cliff Nguyen, HU, def. Ryan Edlefsen, 6-4, 6-1
4. Josh Axler, NU, def. No. 83 William Lee, 7-5, 7-5
5. Jackie Jenkins, NU, def. Brian Wan, 7-5, 6-2
6. Joost Hol, NU, def. George Turner, 6-4, 6-4
