Jan. 18, 2003

The University of Denver men's tennis team was defeated by Northwestern, 5-2, today in Evanston, Ill. With the defeat, the Pioneers fall to 0-2 on the season while the Wildcats improve to 1-0.

The Pioneers came out firing by winning two off the three doubles match-ups. The first win came from the dynamic Slovanian duo of junior Urban Ljubic (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and freshman Nejc Smole (Ljubljana, Slovenia), who defeated Josh Axler and Adam Schaechterle by a score of 8-6. Denver dropped the second doubles match, but freshman Colin Day (Denver, Colo.) and sophomore Jason Tan (Monnickendam, Netherlands) responded by overpowering Tommy Hanus and Justin Hoeveler 8-4 to clinch the doubles point.

The Pioneers didn't fare so well in the singles portion of the match and only came away with one win out of six attempts. The lone positive note came in the form of Tan at No. 5 singles. Tan, who fell in the first game against Northwestern's Schaechterle 4-6, climbed back from near-defeat to outgun his opponent 6-3 and 7-5 for the three-set win.

The Pioneers will take to the court again in Boston, Mass., as they take on Boston College on January 31 at 6:30 p.m..

Northwestern 5, Denver 2

Doubles

1. Urban Ljubic/Nejc Smole (DEN) def. Josh Axler/Adam Schaechterle (NU), 8-6

2. Jackie Jenkins/Chuck Perrin (NU) def. Viktor Zetterholm/Hans Peter Gaber (DEN), 8-2

3. Colin Day/Jason Tan (DEN) def. Tommy Hanus/Justin Hoeveler (NU), 8-4

Singles 1. Hanus (NU) def. Ljubic (DEN), 6-2, 6-4

2. Jenkins (NU) def. Zetterholm (DEN), 7-5, 6-3

3. Axler (NU) def. Smole (DEN), 6-3, 6-2

4. Perrin (NU) def. Gaber (DEN), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3)

5. Tan (DEN) def. Schaechterle (NU), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5

6. Ahmed Wahla (NU) def. Day (DEN), 6-2, 6-0