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EVANSTON, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's tennis team (2-4) dropped its match with No. 69 Northwestern (6-2) by a 7-0 score on Saturday, Feb. 19 at the Combe Tennis Center.

"Northwestern is nationally-ranked for a reason. They are a very talented team and they showed it," said Western Illinois head coach Chris Kane. "In doubles, they put great pressure on our serving games. In singles, I thought we played well, but we needed to take advantage of every opportunity we had. That is obviously difficult to do when the players you are competing against are so talented."

Northwestern gained an early edge in doubles after senior Alejandro Buceta and freshman Ben Yue dropped an 8-0 decision to Chris Jackman and Raleigh Smith at the No. 3 position.

At No. 1 doubles, senior Jeff Cote and sophomore Patrick Hammers fought back from a 4-0 deficit to cut the Northwestern lead to 7-4. The duo ultimately dropped the match, 8-4, to Andrew McCarthy and Tobias Reitz. The No. 2 doubles team of junior Mandela Shepard and senior Francisco Ortiz also battled hard in an 8-4 loss to Spencer Wolf and Eric Spector.

The Wildcats were missing key contributors Joshua Graves and Sidarth Balaji in singles action and mixed up their lineup against the Leathernecks. Buceta fell 6-1, 6-1 to Jackman at No. 3 singles and Shepard dropped a 6-1, 6-0 decision at the No. 4 slot. Hammers mounted a late first-set challenge to McCarthy at No. 2 singles, but ultimately dropped a 6-3, 6-1 decision.

After a quick first set at No. 6 singles, junior Jim Capalbo played a tight back-and-forth second set with Spector before falling 6-1, 6-4. Cote faced off against Wolf at No. 1 singles and showed resiliency in a 6-3, 6-3 loss.

Ortiz mounted Western's best charge of the day against Raleigh Smith at No. 5 singles when he turned a 3-1 second-set deficit into a 5-3 lead. Smith, however, reeled off four consecutive games to take the match 6-2, 7-5.

Western Illinois is back in action next Saturday (Feb. 26) when the Fighting Leathernecks battle in-state rival Southern Illinois in Carbondale. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

Men's Tennis Results
February 19, 2011
Evanston, Ill. (Combe Tennis Center)

No. 69 Northwestern 7, Western Illinois 0
Singles:
1: Spencer Wolf (NU) def. Jeff Cote (WIU), 6-3, 6-3
2: Andrew McCarthy (NU) def. Patrick Hammers (WIU), 6-3, 6-1
3: Chris Jackman (NU) def. Alejandro Buceta (WIU), 6-1, 6-1
4: Tobias Reitz (NU) def. Mandela Shepard (WIU), 6-1, 6-0
5: Raleigh Smith (NU) def. Francisco Ortiz (WIU), 6-2, 7-5
6: Eric Spector (NU) def. Jim Capalbo (WIU), 6-1, 6-4

Doubles:
1: McCarthy/Reitz (NU) def. Cote/Hammers (WIU), 8-4
2: Spector/Wolf (NU) def. Shepard/Ortiz (WIU), 8-4
3: Smith/Jackman (NU) def. Buceta/Yue (WIU), 8-0

Order of Finish:
Singles (3, 4, 2*, 6, 1, 5)
Doubles (3, 1*, 2)