In the locker room after every match, Northwestern men’s tennis coach Paul Torricelli assesses his team’s performance.
But after the Wildcats (4-1) usurped No. 18 North Carolina on Sunday at Combe Tennis Center, Torricelli kept his post-match speech short.
“He said you shouldn’t have to say anything after a perfect match,” junior Adam Schaechterle said.
Making amends for their only loss of the season, against Oklahoma on Jan. 21, the Wildcats (4-1) dominated the Tar Heels 5-2, two days after edging Ball State, 4-3.
The Tar Heels entered Combe Tennis Center with the No. 9 doubles team in the country. NU had to create a new doubles team to knock North Carolina off its perch.
On Friday night Torricelli experimented with the cominbination of Chuck Perrin and Christian Tempke at the top of his doubles lineup. Despite the duo’s loss to Ball State, Torricelli decided to give the pair another shot.
His gamble paid off as Tempke and Perrin downed No. 9 Brad Pomeroy and Geoff Boyd, 8-5, to start the match.
“Boy, they really played well on Sunday, ” Torricelli said. “Christian has really risen to the challenge of No. 1 doubles. He played much better than when he was playing No. 3, and I liked how he and Chuck worked together.”
NU’s No. 2 doubles team of Tommy Hanus and Schaechterle clinched the doubles point for the Cats with a tough 9-8 win against the Tar Heels’ Sebastian Guejman and David Stone. Hanus and Schaechterle are now the most consistent doubles team for the Cats, with a season record of 4-1.
In singles play, Boyd knocked out Perrin in three sets, and Pomeroy was granted a victory when Tempke’s right ankle, injured last fall, forced him to retire.
“It’s hampered him a little,” Torricelli said. “It started to catch up with him for the singles.”
Despite Perrin and Tempke’s losses, a scrappy NU squad still managed to hand the favored Tar Heels — the first ranked team the Cats have faced this season — a loss.
“Everybody played with reckless abandon,” Perrin said. “There was an energy surrounding the team. It was a big momentum booster for the rest of the season.”
Reach Tania Ganguli at [email protected], Ariel Alexovich at [email protected] and Sarah Rothschild at [email protected].