Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois-Chicago
'Cats Blank Illinois-Chicago, 7-0
1/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 8, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's men's tennis team began its spring season by rolling past Illinois-Chicago 7-0 Sunday at the Combe Tennis Center. The Wildcats started the match by winning the doubles point, then recorded singles wins at all six positions.
Northwestern began the match by winning all three doubles matches to gain the doubles point.
At the No. 1 doubles position, Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) and Adam Schaechterle (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) topped the Flames' Ivan Kovalev and Andy Lockhart, 8-5.
At No. 2 doubles, Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrügge) and Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) beat UIC's Eric Fey and Paul Glendenning, 8-5.
Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico/South Florida) had no problem at the No. 3 doubles spot, breezing by UIC's Adriano Liccardo and Danai Samuriwo, 8-2.
Northwestern's winning ways continued into the singles portion of the match, as the Wildcats earned wins in all six of the singles matches.
The closest singles match of the day came at the No. 1 position where Tempke met UIC's Kovalev, the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year. In the first set, Kovalev was up early, but Tempke rallied to tie the score at 6-6. Kovalev then took a tight tiebreaker to take the set, 7-6. The second set was equally as entertaining as the two again knotted the score at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. In this tiebreaker, however, Tempke jumped all over Kovalev, taking the tiebreaker, 6-1.
Because Northwestern had already claimed the match at this point, the two played a match tiebreaker to 10.
Tempke took an early 5-3 lead, before Kovalev rallied to take a 6-5 lead. Tempke then battled back to take the next four points to clinch the match, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (6), 1-0 (10-6).
Dwyer was the first Wildcat to finish his play on the day, recording a victory in a dominating performance over Lockhart at the No. 3 singles position. Dwyer got ahead early and never looked back, rolling to a 6-2, 6-3 win. With the win, Dwyer improves his record to 7-3 on the year.
Schaechterle, the team's captain and lone senior, then extended the Wildcats' lead to 3-0 by defeating Liccardo at the No. 5 singles position, 6-1, 6-3.
Lock then clinched victory for the 'Cats with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over Glendenning at No. 2 singles.
With the match already in hand, Gomez earned his first dual win as a Wildcat. The first set was closer than he would have liked, but Gomez fended off UIC's Danai Samuriwo for the win, 7-5, 6-2.
At the No. 6 singles spot, Evstratenkov earned his first career dual win, topping the Flames' Eric Fey, 6-1, 6-2.
"Today was exactly what we needed, an early dual before our first road match. We got everything we could have hoped for," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "Christian Tempke really worked hard against a good player. It's important to get him ready for the season."
With the win, Northwestern improves to 1-0 this season. The Wildcats return to action at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13 at Louisville.
Tennis Match Results Illinois-Chicago vs Northwestern Jan 08, 2006 at Evanston, Ill.Northwestern 7, Illinois-Chicago 0 Singles competition: 1. Tempke, Christian (NU) def. Ivan Kovalev (UIC) 6-7 (6-7), 7-6 (6-1), 1-0 (10-6) 2. Lock, Willy (NU) def. Paul Glendenning (UIC) 6-3, 6-4 3. Dwyer, Marc (NU) def. Andy Lockhart (UIC) 6-2, 6-3 4. Gomez, Juan (NU) def. Danai Samuriwo (UIC) 7-5, 6-2 5. Schaechterle, Adam (NU) def. Adriano Liccardo (UIC) 6-1, 6-3 6. Evstratenkov, Alexey (NU) def. Eric Fey (UIC) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition: 1. Christian, Matt/Schaechterle, Adam (NU) def. Ivan Kovalev/Andy Lockhart (UIC) 8-5 2. Tempke, Christian/Dwyer, Marc (NU) def. Eric Fey/Paul Glendenning (UIC) 8-5 3. Lock, Willy/Gomez, Juan (NU) def. Adriano Liccardo/Danai Samuriwo (UIC) 8-2
Match Notes: Illinois-Chicago 0-1 Northwestern 1-0 Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,5,2,4,6) T-3:00 A-100
