For a moment during the doubles portion of Saturday’s Big Ten opener, Wisconsin had a chance to get an early edge on Northwestern.
While NU’s Tommy Hanus and Adam Schaechterle controlled of their match, Willy Lock and Matt Christian barely led, and Chuck Perrin and Christian Tempke were down 2-4 to Wisconsin’s Alex and Lachezar Kazarov.
The Kazarov brothers would only win one more game the rest of the doubles match.
“At the beginning we played pretty bad, especially our return game,” Tempke said. “It was just a matter of time before we could come back.”
Perrin and Tempke won with Perrin closing the 8-5 win with a love service game.
This turnaround proved to be the difference in the doubles competition, since Lock and Christian lost in a tiebreak.
“We needed to take the doubles point and we did that,” coach Paul Torricelli said. “That set the tone for the match.”
The Wildcats (5-2, 1-0 Big Ten) then cruised through the singles matches, winning four out of six, and beat the Badgers 5-2.
All of the Cats’ singles victories came in straight sets. Tempke, Christian and Lock’s opponents won a combined 10 games against them.
“We had some good matchups today, ” Torricelli said. “They were much better than their opponents and they came in and took care of business.”
The Cats’ toughest singles victory came in the match between Hanus and Alex Kazarov. Both players looked invincible in their service games as breaks were not coming easily.
“I had one break point in the first set and maybe played it a little too safe,” Hanus said. “I tried to tighten up and make him miss.
“He came up with some garbage shots that won for him.”
Hanus won the first set in a tiebreak and broke Kazarov in the final game of the match, winning the second set 6-4.
The Cats do not have much time to rest, as they host No. 6 Mississippi (3-0) at the Combe Tennis Center on Tuesday. This is the first meeting between the schools.
Although Mississippi has not lost a team point all year, Torricelli said he expects his squad to rise to the challenge.
“We’re going to focus on beating Ole Miss,” he said. “Our expectation is to be in that match and win it.”
Tempke said the team’s performance Saturday gives them a boost heading into Tuesday’s match.
“It gives you confidence if you win pretty easy,” he said. “It gives us good confidence for Tuesday.”
After a string of tight, hard-fought matches, Torricelli expressed relief about the relative ease of the Wisconsin win, especially right before the Cats’ biggest test of the spring season.
“I think it was the least intense match we’ve played this year,” he said. “Maybe that’s a good sign.”
Reach David Morrison at [email protected].
