Northwestern
Ball State
'Cats Cruise Past Cardinals, 5-2
1/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 19, 2007
Final Stats
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's 56th-ranked men's tennis team defended its home court well, defeating the 69th-ranked Ball State Cardinals 5-2 at Combe Tennis Center Friday night.
The victory was an important one for the 'Cats, as they rebounded from last Sunday's loss to No. 29 Louisville to defeat their first ranked opponent of the 2007 dual season. The win pushes Northwestern's record to 2-1 as they begin the dual season with a seven-match homestand. Ball State falls to 1-2 with the loss.
"Tonight was a good match for us," Northwestern Head Coach Paul Torricelli said. "We emphasized winning the doubles point tonight, as Ball State has historically won the doubles point against us."
The Wildcats listened to their coach's advice, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead by snatching the doubles point away from the Cardinals.
In a battle of regionally ranked doubles pairs, Northwestern's sixth-ranked tandem of Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) downed the 15th-ranked duo of Joe and Jarrod Epkey 8-5. Lock and Christian broke serve with the match tied at 4 apiece and never looked back on their way to victory.
Down 3-0, Northwestern's No. 2 doubles tandem of Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study HS) rallied to even the match at 3, but ultimately fell to Ball State's Aaron Phillips and Jorge Rodriguez 8-5.
The doubles point came down to No. 3 doubles, where the Wildcats' Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LohbrÜgge) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) squared off against the Cardinals' Jose Perdomo and Joe Vallee. An early break gave the 'Cats duo a 3-2 lead, and they maintained that lead for the rest of their match to win 8-6 and give Northwestern the doubles point.
After a short break, the 'Cats No. 1 doubles duo showcased their singles talents, quickly staking Northwestern out to a 3-0 lead with a pair of singles wins. Lock won his rematch with one of the Epkey brothers, cruising to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Joe Epkey at No. 1 singles to make it 2-0 in favor of Northwestern.
Christian made it 3-0 when he claimed a 6-4, 6-2 victory in his rematch against Jarrod Epkey at No. 3 singles. The Wildcat senior is one of two Northwestern players to begin this dual season 3-0 in singles.
The other 'Cat who can make that claim is the freshman Sanborn, who made sure the Wildcat fans went home happy when he defeated Ball State's Jimmy Brannon 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6 singles.
With the outcome of the dual already decided, all three singles matches that went past two sets were decided by a super tiebreaker.
The score got as close as 4-2 when Ball State won a pair of matches decided by super tiebreaker. Tempke won the first set at No. 2 singles 6-4 over Phillips, but could not hold off the Cardinal off as he struggled with an injury. Phillips claimed the match by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (12-10).
Gomez also fell in a super tiebreaker, losing 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) to Perdomo at No. 4 singles.
Northwestern claimed the final point of the dual, as Dwyer rallied from a one-set deficit to defeat Bret Berryman 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-4) at No. 5 singles.
The Wildcats will continue their seven-match homestand this Sunday when they welcome former Northwestern Assistant Coach Adam Steinberg and the Pepperdine Waves to Combe Tennis Center. The match is set to start at 1 p.m. central time.
Players Mentioned
