Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Have Ohio State, Penn State on Their Mind
4/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 14, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill.--Northwestern's 42nd-ranked men's tennis team (13-5, 4-2 Big Ten) will hit the road one last time this season, heading east for dual matches against No. 19 Ohio State at 3 p.m. (CT) April 16 in Columbus, Ohio and No. 63 Penn State at 11 a.m. April 18 in State College, Pa.
Last week the Wildcats trounced Iowa 5-2 to move into fourth-place tie with Indiana in the conference standings, trailing Illinois (6-0), Minnesota (6-1) and Ohio State (5-1). With four matches left in the season, NU has a good chance of earning a first-round bye (No. 5 seed or higher) at the Big Ten Championship.
To accomplish this feat, Northwestern will need to get at least a win or two, and it can do it with help from players like Chuck Perrin (Atlanta, Ga./The Walker School) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice), both of whom are winners of four of their last five singles matches. Each, however, will have their work cut out for them on Friday.
The Buckeyes (15-3, 5-1) are led by Jeremy Wurtzman, the top-ranked singles player in the country. In a tight match against No. 1 Illinois on April 11, Wurtzman fell in straight sets to second-ranked Brian Wilson in what turned out to be the key victory in the Illini's narrow 4-3 win. The loss ended an 11-match winning streak for the senior, who is now 15-2 for the year.
The Buckeyes pulled a pair of doubles upsets in that match. Wurtzman and Joey Atas, who are ranked 56th, upended the second-ranked doubles team of Wilson and Phil Stolt 8-6. Ross Wilson and Scott Green clinched the doubles point for OSU with their 8-5 victory over the No. 24 duo of Michael Calkins and Chris Martin.
"Ohio State will be an enormous challenge, as they are a solid top-20 team," said head coach Paul Torricelli. "They have shown how good they are; we look forward to facing them."
The Nittany Lions are looking to move back toward .500 in the Big Ten after falling to No.1 Illinois 6-1 and then-No. 75 Purdue 5-2. Freshman Bradley Hunter has been a bright spot in the Lions' lineup, winning his first five Big Ten matches before falling 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 to Purdue's Jarred Liebner on Sunday. Hunter earned Penn State's only point in his match against the Illini, defeating GD Jones at No. 5 singles.
Against Purdue, the Nittany Lions were paced by another freshman, Ryan Berger, who earned his first conference victory by defeating the Boilermakers' Eric Hodgman at No. 5 singles. Senior Clint Keithly earned PSU's other point as well as his first Big Ten win, defeating David Robinson 6-3, 7-6 at No. 3 singles.
"Penn State is a dangerous team at home," said Torricelli. "We have struggled against them in the past, as they always play us tough."
The Nittany Lions will play host to Wisconsin before their match-up against NU.
