Jan. 31, 2004

EVANSTON, Ill.-- Down 3-1, Northwestern's 58th-ranked men's tennis team stormed back to upset No. 25 Pepperdine at Combe Tennis Center on Saturday night, capped off by NU's Adam Schaechterle's thrilling 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-1 victory over Richard Johnson at No. 6 that gave NU the fourth and final point.

The Waves dropped to 2-1 on the season as they head to No. 1 Illinois on Saturday. NU (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten) got itself in a tight situation after losing the doubles point and two of the first three singles matches.

Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium Lohbrugge) and Schaechterle evened the doubles matches at 1-1 after they beat Alexis Rafidison and Kevin Borzenski 8-6 at No. 3. The win improved the NU duo's record to 4-0 this season.

The clinching match for doubles fell to Tommy Hanus (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Justin Hoeveler (Ross, Calif./The Branson School), who went to a tiebreaker against Scott Doerner and Alex Herrera at No. 2. After rallying from being down 5-1 (in the tiebreaker), the Wildcat tandem could not continue its momentum and fell 9-8 (7-5).

Hanus put NU on the board with his 7-5, 6-2 win over 31st-ranked Pedro Rico at No. 2. Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LohbrÃœgge) followed with his 6-4, 6-4 victory against Scott Doerner at No. 3, which put the score at 3-2 in favor of the Waves.

Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) then ignited the crowd with his come-from-behind 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Doerner at No. 4. That win tied the match at 3-3.

With some cheering from the fans and his teammates, Schaechterle took over from there.

Added Waves head coach and former NU assistant coach Adam Steinberg, whose team falls to 2-1: "(Northwestern) deserved to win today. The players deserve the credit, (as) they played better (and) took it to us from the start."

The Wildcats take on No. 73 Northern Illinois (1-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Combe Tennis Center.