Northwestern University Athletics
Men's Tennis To Face Tough Intrastate Rivalry
4/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 3, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - There is a lot riding on Thursday night's men's tennis match between No. 37 Northwestern and No. 3 Illinois.
Each team has a perfect 4-0 record against Big Ten opponents and each team would like to claim the bragging rights that go along with being the only two Big Ten teams in the state.
Illinois is also protecting a 47-match regular season win streak against league opponents.
"It's definately a challenge," head coach Paul Torricelli said of taking on the Illini. "It's our biggest match of the year to date. We have a lot of respect for this program, they set extremely high standards for the conference."
But the 'Cats are not to be counted out of the match. They have won five of their last six matches and have faced 12 nationally ranked teams this season.
Freshman Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) broke into the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings Wednesday at No. 118, the first Wildcat to be ranked this sesason. Hanus will start at the No. 1 singles position for NU this weekend.
Thursday's match will begin at 6 p.m. at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill.
