Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Set for Penn State Rematch
4/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 28, 2010
No. 9 Northwestern (9-14, 1-9) vs. No. 8 Penn State (15-10, 3-7)
Thursday, April 29
Indiana University Tennis Center
Bloomington, Ind. • 9 a.m.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Ninth-seeded Northwestern kicks off the 2010 Big Ten Tournament, hosted by the University of Indiana, with a rematch against its final regular season foe, No. 8 seed Penn State, Thursday morning at 8 a.m. CT. The winner of the dual advances to face top-seeded No. 4 Ohio State Friday morning.
The bracket for the 2010 tournament can be found here.
Last season, Northwestern was the fifth seed in the tournament, falling in an extremely tight match to 2009 tournament host Michigan in the quarterfinals. The 'Cats will look to match that performance with a win over the Nittany Lions.
SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS
Penn State closed out its regular season with a road trip to the Midwest, dropping a 6-1 decision to No. 27 Wisconsin Friday afternoon before winning a 4-3 heartbreaker over the 'Cats on Sunday. With the victory, Penn State picked up its 15th victory of the season, beating its win total from last season (14). Northwestern leads the all-time series over Penn State, 16-5.
The Nittany Lions' Eddie Bourchier was named co-Big Ten Athlete of the Week following two doubles victories and his win at No. 1 over NU's Joshua Graves (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet) Sunday.
Last year at the Big Ten Tournament, the Nittany Lions tied for fifth. Penn State earned a first round victory over Purdue, followed by a quarterfinals loss to a highly talented Illinois squad. Penn State's best finish at the tournament came in 2006, when the Nittany Lions finished third.
LAST TIME OUT
Northwestern dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to Penn State on Senior Day at Combe Tennis Center Sunday afternoon. Wildcat senior Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) completed his regular season college career with a three-set win at No. 5 singles, the 62nd victory of his career.
The 'Cats fell behind after the doubles point, which was decided by a nailbiter at No. 2 between the team of Sanborn and Tobias Reitz (Reinbeck, Germany/Sachsenwaldschule Reinbeck) and Penn State's Ryan Gormley and Warren Hardie.
Northwestern got on the board behind a Chris Jackman (Key Biscayne, Fla./Gulliver Prep) victory at No. 6 singles. Sanborn followed with a win at No. 5 over Guillaume St-Maurice. The 'Cats' final point came from freshman Sidarth Balaji (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) who notched his second consecutive win at No. 2 singles.
