Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois
Eighth-Ranked Illini Down Wildcats, 6-1
3/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 31, 2007
Results
URBANA, Ill. -- Junior Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) took his match at No. 5 singles and the 64th-ranked Wildcats forced two three-setters, but fell to eighth-ranked Illinois Saturday, 6-1. The Wildcats ended their first Big Ten road trip with a 1-1 record and will start a home weekend at 4 p.m. Friday against third-ranked Ohio State.
The loss drops Northwestern to 7-10, 2-3 in the Big Ten. Illinois improves to 4-0 in the Big Ten, 11-4 overall.
Gomez snapped a six-match losing streak with a straight-set win over Brandon Davis at No. 5, 6-3, 6-0. His win tied the overall score at 1-1, but Illinois took the next five matches to win the dual 6-1.
Illinois swept all three matches to take the doubles point. At No. 1, defending NCAA champions Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe downed Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice), 8-3.
Marc Dwyer (Univ. of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) and Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) fell at No. 2 to GD Jones and Marc Spicijaric, 8-6. Illinois' Brandon Davis and Jordan Knue downed Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LobrÜgge) and Gomez at No. 3, 8-6.
Northwestern evened the match at 1-1 when Gomez took his No. 5 singles match over Davis, 6-3, 6-0, but Illinois retook the lead when Spicijaric won a straight-setter over Christian at No. 4, 6-1, 6-4.
At No. 1, Lock fell to sixth-ranked Kevin Anderson, 6-1, 6-3.
Sanborn cruised to a 6-0 win in the first set of his match against Knue, but the Illini took the next two sets to top the freshman, 0-6, 6-1, 6-1.
At No. 2, Tempke fell to the 12th-ranked Rowe in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, and Illinois made the final score 6-1 when Jones downed Dwyer at No. 3, but needed a third-set superbreaker to take the match, 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 (10-3).
The Wildcats return to action at 4 p.m., Friday, April 6, against third-ranked Ohio State at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center.
