Northwestern proved that just about everyone benefits from sunshine and warmth during the tail end of Evanston's harsh winters.
Coach Arvid Swan and the Wildcats traveled to Texas for a match with Lamar University on March 25. Playing in their first contest in over two weeks, the Cats beat the Cardinal 6-1, for their first victory in more than a month.
"Since we have been playing indoors for a while, going outside with the wind, the sun and all the elements makes it difficult," Swan said. "It was a tough match, so it was good to win."
NU won five out of six singles matches and picked up the doubles point by taking two of the three doubles matches.
"I thought it was our best effort to date," Swan said. "The matches were all very competitive and we ended up winning a lot of them. I was pleased in terms of all of the guys contributing, and when you do that, you're going to win some matches."
When the Cats returned north, they started their final stretch of six matches against Big Ten competitors. But NU failed to repeat its performance in a pair of weekend conference matches.
Against No. 15 Illinois on Saturday, NU was unable to overcome the power of the Illini, falling 7-0. The Cats lost all six singles matches in straight sets.
In doubles, junior Marc Dwyer and sophomore Alex Sanborn were edged 9-8, while freshman Andrew McCarthy and senior Juan Gomez fell short, 9-7.
"Illinois has been one of the best teams in the country and in the conference the past few years," Swan said. "We played a very good doubles match. We contended with them, and we played well in the individual spots."
Last Sunday, NU faced No. 66 Purdue at home, hoping to rebound from the previous defeat. The Cats kept pace with the Boilermakers at first but lost McCarthy to a pulled muscle in the second set of his singles match, forcing him to retire.
NU was defeated 5-2, with the pair of singles wins coming from Dwyer and Gomez. Dwyer also picked up a doubles win with Sanborn, 8-6, but the team failed to earn the doubles point.
"Purdue was a pretty rough loss," Dwyer said. "I thought we could have won that match, but it just didn't go our way.
"We probably should have won that, but it just wasn't there."
e-marston@northwestern.edu
2008 Woodie Awards
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