Coach Arvid Swan could hardly have asked for a better start to the season.
In its two dual meets on Sunday against Butler and the University of Chicago, Northwestern won by a combined score of 14-0. Of the 18 matches played, the Wildcats won 17.
“We have increased depth, and I think that showed today, ” Swan said after kicking off the 2009 season.
The team of junior Alex Sanborn and freshman Josh Graves got the Cats off to a good start in No. 2 doubles, winning the first match of the day 8-3. NU managed to clinch the doubles point after freshman Eric Spector and graduate student Alex Thams finished off Butler’s Brandon Bayliss and Ben Raynauld, 8-6. In No. 1 doubles, freshman Tobias Reitz and senior Marc Dwyer fought their way back from a deficit of 3-7 to even the score at seven, but they came up short and fell 7-4 in the tiebreaker. NU dominated in all six singles matches, winning every set and dropping only 24 games.
Several hours later, against the University of Chicago, NU’s theme was the same: domination.
Reitz and Dwyer defeated the team of Garrett Brinker and Steve Saltarelli 8-4. Sanborn and Graves completed their second impressive win of the day as they beat Jan Stefanski and Lado Bakhutashvili 8-3. Finally, Spector and Thams brought home the No. 3 doubles point with an 8-2 rout of Will Zhang and Troy Brinker.
In singles, the Cats made quick work of the Maroons. Sanborn and sophomore Andrew McCarthy disposed of their opponents by the same score, 6-0, 6-2, while senior Philip Kafka beat Paul Namkoong 6-2, 6-0. Sophomore Peter Rispoli downed Stefanski 6-1, 6-1, Thams beat Zhang 6-1, 6-3 and Dwyer ended NU’s day with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Bakhutashvili.
Every member of the team played at least once on Sunday, with eight different players competing in singles and six in doubles. Each of the doubles pairs featured an interesting combination of experience (Sanborn, Dwyer and Thams) and youth (Graves, Reitz and Spector). Thams, a graduate student playing in his second year for the Cats, teamed up with the freshman Spector. The pair won its two matches by a combined score of 16-8.
“I like the idea of being one of the older guys and having a little more responsibility,” Thams said. “Hopefully I can transfer some of my experience to the younger guys.”
While Swan noted that the team could use some work on doubles play, the team won five of its six doubles matches, and the coach was impressed with his upperclassmen.
“We have some tremendous leadership, and I think it shows on the court,” Swan said.
The Cats will take five days off and prepare for a trio of matches next weekend, with IUPUI and Western Illinois on Saturday and Illinois-Chicago on Sunday.
