Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Head South to Face Cardinals, Cardinals
1/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 12, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's men's tennis team continues its march toward the NCAA tournament by traveling to No. 32 Louisville at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13 and No. 68 Ball State at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15. The Wildcats, who are 1-0 this season following a 7-0 win over Illinois-Chicago Sunday, notched a No. 51 ranking in the first ITA rankings of the season.
The 'Cats enter this weekend's match at Louisville after a dominating win over Illinois-Chicago in which Northwestern did not drop a match. Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrügge) improved his dual record to 1-0 after defeating UIC's Ivan Kovalev--the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year. Tempke is ranked No. 17 in the ITA Midwest singles rankings and is tied with freshman Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) for a team-high seven singles wins this year.
Also regionally ranked for the Wildcats is the doubles team of Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) and Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine), which earned a No. 15 mark from the ITA. They have recorded a team-best 3-1 doubles record this season.
The 'Cats open the weekend at Louisville, looking to go 4-0 all-time against the Cardinals. The match will be Louisville's first dual of the season, and its first action since October 25, 2005. Cardinal juniors Slavko Radman and Damar Johnson are ranked No. 16 and No. 20, respectively, in the ITA Midwest singles rankings. The doubles team of Jakob Gustafsson and Jeremy Clark is ranked No. 47 in the country, while the doubles team of Radman and Johnson is regionally ranked No. 7.
Following the Louisville dual, Northwestern heads to Muncie, Ind., to face Ball State. Northwestern looks for its sixth-consecutive win over the Cardinals, as the Wildcats haven't fallen to BSU since January 28, 2000. This weekend's dual will mark the 22nd all-time meeting between these two teams, with Northwestern leading the series, 12-9.
Last season, the 'Cats came back for a 4-3 win over the Cardinals. While Ball State took the doubles point as well as wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots, the Wildcats rallied with victories at the No. 3 through No. 6 singles positions to pull out the win.
Leading the Cardinals is the doubles team of Matt Baccarani and Patrick Thompson, which is tabbed as the country's No. 4 doubles team. Baccarani is also the eighth-ranked singles player in the Midwest region.
"This is our first major test of the year versus two very tough opponents," head tennis coach Paul Torricelli said. "There's no opportunity for us to slowly make our way into the season. We're going to find out a lot about our team this weekend."
