University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Outlasts the Wildcats 5-2
4/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Minnesota outlasted the Wildcats of Northwestern in a 5-2 victory that saw four of the six singles matches pushed to a third set on Friday in Minneapolis.
Minnesota grabbed the doubles point and had two quick victories in the singles with Tobias Wernet defeating Sidarth Balaji 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) in a No. 2 singles matchup. Dino Bilankov was not far behind with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Andrew McCarthy at the No. 4 singles spot. After getting out to a 3-0 lead the Gophers had to wait out the decisive fourth point after Phillip Arndt fell to Northwestern’s Alex Sanborn 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
With the last three matches all in a third set, it was #80 Sebastian Gallego at No. 1 singles that brought the victory to the Gophers. Gallego took down #82 Joshua Graves with a score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The final two matches of the day ended with Brendan Ruddock getting a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Tobias Reitz. Ruddock has made a habit of playing in third sets as his last seven of nine matches have been put into the third tie-breaking set. Spencer Wolf of Northwestern ended the day by beating Rok Bonin 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 to give the Wildcats their second and final point of the match.
The Gophers fell to the Wildcats last season in a 4-3 match, but with the 5-2 victory today the Gophers have won four of the last five matchups with Northwestern and improved their all-time record over the Wildcats to 46-44-1.
The match was a tough battle from start to finish beginning with the highly competitive double matches. The Minnesota pairing of Bonin and Wernet claimed victory at the No. 2 spot over Reitz and Sanborn with a score of 8-5 to start the day. Northwestern struck right back with the team of Graves and Wolf defeating Arndt and Gallego at the No. 1 doubles 8-5. Bilankov and Dehn of Minnesota had the pressure on in the No. 3 doubles match and came through with a hard-fought 9-7 win over the pairing of McCarthy and Balaji.
#37 Minnesota faces #32 Wisconsin on Sunday at the Baseline Tennis Center at noon with free admission. The Badgers come to Minneapolis with a 4-2 record in the Big Ten and are currently fourth in the conference. The Gophers improved their conference record to 4-3 with the win over the Wildcats and sit at fifth just behind the Badgers.
#37 Minnesota 5, #53 Northwestern 2
Singles
1. #80 Sebastian Gallego (MINN) def. #82 Joshua Graves (NW) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. #102 Tobias Wernet (MINN) def. Sidarth Balaji (NW) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5)
3. Spencer Wolf (NW) def. Rok Bonin (MINN) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
4. Dino Bilankov (MINN) def. Andrew McCarthy (NW) 6-2, 6-2
5. Alex Sanborn (NW) def. Phillip Arndt (MINN) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
6. Brendan Ruddock (MINN) def. Tobias Reitz (NW) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. Joshua Graves/Spencer Wolf (NW) def. Phillip Arndt/Sebastian Gallego 8-5
2. Rok Bonin/Tobias Wernet (MINN) def. Tobias Reitz/Alex Sanborn (NW) 8-5
3. Dino Bilankov/Julian Dehn (MINN) def. Andrew McCarthy/Sidarth Balaji 9-7
Match Notes:
Minnesota 11-8, 4-3 Big Ten; National Ranking #37
Northwestern 9-11, 1-6 Big Ten; National Ranking #53
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1,3) Singles (2,4,5,1,6,3)
Players Mentioned
