Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Arizona
No. 20 Arizona Edges Northwestern, 4-3
3/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 25, 2009
TUCSON, Ariz. -- In the second match of its trip through Arizona, 58th-ranked Northwestern fell to No. 20 Arizona Wednesday afternoon in a tight battle, 4-3. The Wildcats took the doubles point with a pair of 9-7 victories and collected singles wins from freshmen Eric Spector and Joshua Graves.
With the loss, Northwestern falls to 12-5, while Arizona improves to 15-1.
The Wildcats got out to a 1-0 lead in the dual by capturing the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3. After Marc Dwyer and Alex Sanborn fell at No. 1 to 53rd-ranked Francois VanderMerwe and Pat Metham, 9-7, the Wildcats evened things up with a 9-7 victory of their own at No. 2. Graves and partner Tobias Reitz downed Andrews Arango and Andrews Carrasco.
NU clinched the doubles point and took a 1-0 dual lead when the No. 3 pair of Andrew McCarthy and Alexander Thams defeated Jay Goldman and Ola Bakke, 9-7.
The 20th-ranked Arizona Wildcats evened the dual at 1-1 when the 64th-ranked Goldman defeated the 89th-ranked Dwyer at No. 1, 6-1, 6-2. Arizona inched out to a 2-1 lead when Arango topped Reitz at No. 2, 6-4, 6-3.
The Wildcats tied things up once again with a win at No. 6. Spector topped Jason Zafiros in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Arizona would clinch the dual with victories at No. 5 and No. 3 to go ahead 4-2. At No. 5, Metham downed Sanborn via third-set tiebreaker, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7), while Thams fell in three sets to Carrasco, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Graves collected a win at No. 4 when his opponent, Ravid Hazi, defaulted in the third set.
Northwestern resumes Big Ten action on Saturday, March 28, when it hosts Michigan State at noon CT. The 'Cats then welcome Michigan to Evanston at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 29. Depending on the weather conditions, the matches will either be indoors at the Combe Tennis Center or outdoors at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center.
No. 20 Arizona 4, No. 58 Northwestern 3
Doubles
No. 1 - No. 53 Vandermerwe/Metham (UA) def. Dwyer/Sanborn (NU), 9-7
No. 2 - Graves/Reitz (NU) def. Arango/Carrasco (UA), 9-7
No. 3 - McCarthy/Thams (NU) def. Goldman/Bakke (UA), 9-7
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
No. 1 - No. 64 Goldman (UA) def. No. 89 Dwyer (NU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 - Arango (UA) def. No. 119 Reitz (NU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 - Carrasco (UA) def. Thams (NU), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 - Graves (NU) def. Hazi (UA), 6-4, 5-7, 5-2 (Default)
No. 5 - Metham (UA) def. Sanborn (NU), 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (9-7)
No. 6 - Spector (NU) def. Zafiros (UA), 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 2, 6, 5, 3, 4
