Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Indiana
'Cats Fall in Heartbreaker to Indiana, 4-3
4/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 8, 2007
Results
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern fought back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the dual at three apiece, but Indiana edged the Wildcats Sunday at the Combe Tennis Center, 4-3. Indiana's David Bubenicek captured a third-set tiebreaker over senior Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LobrÜgge) to clinch the dual.
The loss drops Northwestern to 7-12, 2-5 in the Big Ten while Indiana improves to 13-8, 3-3 in the Big Ten.
"We got off to a slow start in singles, but I liked out we fought back from down 3-1," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "Today's loss was heartbreaking."
Indiana led 3-1 after taking the first three singles matches, but wins by junior Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico) and freshman Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) tied the score at 3-3 with Tempke's match to decide the dual.
Bubenicek took the first set from Tempke, 6-1, but the senior took a 7-4 tiebreaker in the second to even the match at a set apiece.
The two stayed on serve until 2-2 in the third set when Tempke went up 40-0 and eventually broke the Hoosier on his second chance to go up 3-2. Tempke held his end of the bargain and went up 4-2 with a break in hand.
Tempke fought off two break points at 4-3 to go up 5-3 on Bubenicek. The Hoosier held serve to close to 5-4 and broke Tempke to tie the set at 5-5.
The Hoosier held to take a 6-5 lead, but Tempke served his way to a third-set tiebreaker with the dual on the line.
The tiebreaker stayed on serve until the Hoosier broke Tempke to take a 4-3 lead. Bubenicek held twice to take a 6-3 lead and won the breaker, 7-4.
Northwestern captured the first point of the dual in one of the most closely contested doubles points of the season. NU captured the No. 2 doubles match to lead 1-0 heading into singles.
Indiana took No. 1 when Thomas Richter and Dara McLoughlin downed Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice), 8-4. The matches left on the courts could not have been tighter, with the Wildcats taking victories at No. 2 and No. 3.
The match at No. 3 between the Wildcat pair of Tempke and Gomez and Indiana's Peter Antons and Arnaud Roussel stayed on serve until an NU break to make the score 7-6. The Hoosiers broke back to even the score at 7-7, but the Wildcats would take another break and hold serve to win 9-7. The match at No. 2, which was almost a mirror image, proved to be the difference.
Northwestern's Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./Univ. of Nebraska-Independent Study H.S.) and Sanborn went up a break at 5-4 over Indiana's Bubenicek and Mak Kendall, but the Hoosiers broke back to even the score.
The Wildcats had several match points when up 7-6 with Indiana serving, but the Hoosiers held to even the match at 7-7. With both teams holding serve, the bout went to a seven-point tiebreaker. The Wildcats dominated the breaker, 7-2.
Indiana evened the match at 1-1 with a win at No. 3 singles. McLoughlin topped Dwyer in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3. The Hoosiers took a 2-1 lead with a win at No. 1. Richter took the first set over Lock, 6-2, but the senior played a much tighter second frame.
With the score tied at 4-4, Lock could not convert on several break point opportunities and Richter took the game when one of Lock's shots hit the tape and did not cross the net. Richter broke the Wildcat to take the second set, 6-4.
Indiana moved to within one match of clinching the dual with a win at No. 4. Roussel jumped out to an early lead over Christian, but the senior fought back to play two close sets. He dropped the first set, 6-4, and rallied to a point away from a second-set tiebreaker. Christian could not get the break he needed and fell 7-5 in the second set.
The Wildcats won the next two matches to even the dual at 3-3. Gomez took a hard-fought two setter at No. 5 singles, 7-6, 6-3, over Antons. The junior took the first breaker 7-3.
Gomez jumped out to a lead in the second set, but the Hoosier tied the set at 3-3. The Wildcat responded and reeled off the next three games to win the match, 7-6, 6-3, and make the overall score 3-2.
Sanborn needed three sets to take his match at No. 6 singles over Mak Kendall and tie the dual at 3-3. The freshman took the first set, 7-5, before falling 6-2 in the second frame.
With Sanborn up 5-2, serving for the match and down 40-30, the young Wildcat ripped an ace to force a deuce. Sanborn fought off several break points and Kendall staved off two match points before the freshman shut the door.
Gomez and Sanborn took their matches within five minutes of each other and Tempke was already underway in a third set that would decide the dual.
The Wildcats have one more road trip in Big Ten play. The 'Cats return to action at 1 p.m. Friday against Minnesota.
