Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Mississippi
Fourth-Ranked Rebels Outgun 'Cats, 5-2
2/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 14, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern won the doubles point and senior Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LohbrÜgge) won a thrilling three-setter over 79th-ranked Robbye Poole, but the fourth-ranked Mississippi Rebels took the other five singles matches to top the Wildcats Wednesday night, 5-2. The 'Cats handed Ole Miss its first doubles losses of the dual season.
Mississippi improves to 7-0 while the Wildcats fall to 5-4 entering their first weekend of Big Ten competition.
Tempke played the best singles match of the night, defeating the 79th-ranked Poole at No. 2, 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3). Tempke was down three breaks in the opening set before finally breaking through and getting on the board at 1-5. While he lost the first set, momentum had clearly shifted and Tempke went up an early break in the second.
Poole fought back and forced an entertaining tiebreak that included three forehand winners by Tempke. The Wildcat continued his momentum into the third set, breaking twice early in the set. Poole stormed back and forced a tiebreak, which Tempke won, 7-3. It was the only the second singles loss for Ole Miss in dual play.
Northwestern clinched the doubles point with a 9-8 win at No. 2 doubles by the duo of Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./University of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) and Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) over Mississippi's Poole and Jakob Klaeson. The match was tight with both teams holding serve until the tiebreak. The teams exchanged mini-breaks throughout the breaker, but NU broke through and won the match thanks to a Sanborn serve down the "T" that caused a return into the net by Poole.
At No. 1 doubles, the 27th-ranked duo of Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) and Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) went up an early break against Ole Miss' Erling Tveit and Chris Rea and held on to it. They won the match with a beautiful return down the line by Lock. Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) and Tempke lost to Jonas Berg and Kalle Norberg at No. 3 doubles, 8-4, going down an early break from which they could not recover.
At No. 1 singles, Lock fell to Mississippi's 40th-ranked Erling Tveit. Lock had chances on his opponent's opening serve, but failed to convert two break points. He continued to battle, but eventually fell, 6-3, 6-3.
At No. 3 singles, Christian fell to Ole Miss' Norberg, 6-1, 6-1, and Sanborn fell at No. 6 singles to Rea, 6-0, 6-2.
With Ole Miss holding a 3-1 lead after dropping the doubles point, the clinching match was the No. 4 singles battle between Dwyer and Klaeson. Dwyer lost the first set and then stormed back in a hard-fought second set.
The second-set tiebreak was a thriller as Dwyer hit two forehand winners, one of which gave him his first set point opportunity. However, Dwyer failed to capitalize on set point and Klaeson seized the match, 6-1, 7-6(7), giving the fourth-ranked rebels the dual.
Gomez faced Mississippi's Jonas Berg at No. 5 singles. Gomez won the first set easily, breaking Berg's serve in the fourth game and never looking back. Berg took the second set, but Gomez bounced back and went up an early break in the third set before Berg rallied and won the match, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Tempke's win made the final score 5-2 in favor of Ole Miss.
The 'Cats welcome Penn State in their Big Ten opener at 6 p.m. Friday evening.
