Northwestern
Pepperdine
Schaechterle Leads 'Cats to Thrilling Win
1/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 30, 2004
Northwestern-Pepperdine results
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EVANSTON, Ill.--When the pressure came, Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) and his fellow Wildcats rose to the occasion.
Down 3-1, Northwestern's 58th-ranked men's tennis team stormed back to upend No. 25 Pepperdine at Combe Tennis Center, capped off by Schaechterle's thrilling 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1 victory over Richard Johnson at No. 6 that gave NU the fourth and final point.
"I like being under pressure," Schaechterle said of playing the decisive match. "For me, I got more excited. I actually played a little looser with the pressure because I was more focused."
NU (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten) got itself in a tight situation after losing the doubles point and two of the first three singles matches.
Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrugge) and Schaechterle evened the doubles matches at 1-1 after they beat Alexis Rafidison and Kevin Borzenski 8-6 at No. 3. The win improved the NU duo's record to 4-0 this season.
The clinching match for doubles fell to Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Justin Hoeveler (Ross, Calif./The Branson School), who went to a tiebreaker against Scott Doerner and Alex Herrera at No. 2. After rallying from being down 5-1 (in the tiebreaker), the Wildcat tandem could not continue its momentum and fell 9-8 (7-5).
"Even when we were down," said head coach Paul Torricelli, "I felt we were still in the match."
Hanus put NU on the board with his 7-5, 6-2 win over 31st-ranked Pedro Rico at No. 2. Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbr?gge) followed with his 6-4, 6-4 victory against Alexis Rafidison at No. 3, which put the score at 3-2 in favor of the Waves.
Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) then ignited the crowd with his come-from-behind 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Doerner at No. 4. That win tied the match at 3-3.
With some cheering from the fans and his teammates, Schaechterle took over from there.
"After being on the road for four matches, it helps to be home, get comfortable and have the crowd behind us," said Torricelli. "It was a great win."
Added Waves head coach and former NU assistant coach Adam Steinberg, whose team falls to 2-1: "(Northwestern) deserved to win today. The players deserve the credit, (as) they played better (and) took it to us from the start."
The Wildcats take on No. 73 Northern Illinois (1-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Combe Tennis Center.
