Northwestern
Pepperdine
'Cats Challenge Waves, Fall 7-0
1/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 21, 2007
Results
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's 56th-ranked men's tennis team put up a stiff fight, but 10th-ranked, defending national champion Pepperdine escaped Combe Tennis Center with a 7-0 victory Sunday afternoon.
The 'Cats refused to go down easily, as they were in almost every match against the Waves. But the defending national champions, who are coached by former Northwestern assistant Adam Steinberg, hit just enough big shots to sweep the Wildcats' on their home court.
"Clearly this match shows that we can compete with highly ranked teams," Northwestern Head Coach Paul Torricelli said. "The difference was just a couple of key points throughout the match."
After trailing early in a couple of doubles matches, Northwestern nearly snatched the doubles point away from Pepperdine. The pair of Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrügge) and Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) got the 'Cats off to a good start, defeating Pepperdine's tandem of Bassam Beidas and James Lemke 8-3 at No. 3 doubles to leave the Wildcats one match away from the doubles point.
When the 27th-ranked duo of Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) fell to the Waves' Richard Johnson and Omar Altmann 8-2 at No. 1 doubles, the doubles point came down to who could win No. 2 doubles. Early in the match it looked like the Waves would cruise, as the pair of Andre Begemann and Mahmoud Kamel led Northwestern's Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study HS) 5-1.
Needing to rally, the 'Cats tandem responded, reeling off three straight games to make the score 5-4. The pairs traded games until, with the score 7-6 in favor of the Waves, the Pepperdine duo shut the door on Northwestern's Sanborn and Dwyer, winning the match 8-6 and giving the Waves the doubles point.
In singles the Wildcats could not stem the tide of the Waves' newfound momentum. The score quickly became 3-0 when Gomez fell to Lemke 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 singles and Dwyer lost to Altmann 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles.
The clincher came at No. 1 singles, where Lock fought valiantly to get back into his match against the 33rd-ranked Begemann. Down two breaks in the second set, Lock rallied and had a break-point opportunity to even the set at 5, but ultimately fell 6-4, 6-4 to seal the victory for the Waves.
Even with the outcome of the dual already decided, the 'Cats continued to show their mettle. The Wildcats' Tempke and Waves' Johnson squared off in a thrilling match at No. 2 singles. The match came down to a super tiebreaker, in which the two went back and forth trading points until Johnson finally tallied two in a row to down Tempke 6-7 (3), 6-1, 1-0 (15-13).
Sanborn also found himself in a tight match against Pepperdine's Kamel at No. 6 singles. Sanborn took the first set from Kamel 6-3, but could not hold off the Wave's charge as Kamel took the match 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to give Sanborn his first singles loss of the dual season.
The final match left on the courts was No. 3 singles, where Christian and Beidas went to a third-set tiebreaker to determine the victor. Beidas eventually earned a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2) victory over the Wildcats' Christian.
With the loss, Northwestern falls to 2-2 on the year. The win was Pepperdine's first of the season and evens their record at 1-1.
The Wildcats are in the middle of a seven-match homestand and will next be in action Friday, January 26 when they take on San Diego at 6 p.m. central time.
Players Mentioned
