Nov. 1, 2008

MADISON, Wis. -- After a long day of competition, Northwestern completed the second day of action at the Big Ten Singles Championships hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison with two players still alive in the main draw. No. 3 seed Marc Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga./Univ. of Nebraska - Independent Study H.S.) and Alexander Thams (Stockholm, Sweden/Enskilda Gymnasiet) will play their round of 16 matches on Sunday. The 'Cats are one of only five teams with two or more players remaining in the main draw.

Dwyer is set to face No. 10 seed John Allare of MSU, who took down two Wildcats in Saturday's play, in the third round Sunday afternoon. Thams' next opponent is No.2 seed Lachlan Ferguson of Indiana.

In the first round, Dwyer posted a 6-0, 7-6(4) victory over Adam Altepeter of Minnesota. His momentum continued in the second round as he defeated Jeremy Langer of Indiana, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Thams also posted two victories on the day, giving him an 8-1 record for the fall season thus far. In the first round, he defeated Purdue's Eric Ramos, 6-3, 6-4. Thams then took down No. 14 seed Luke Rassow-Kantor of Wisconsin, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, to secure his spot in the final 16.

Four Wildcats made it through the morning action, but all dropped tough matches to seeded players in the second round.

The last match on the courts Saturday evening, Peter Rispoli (Naples, Fla./St. Stephen's (Texas)) pushed No. 2 seed Lachlan Ferguson of Indiana to the brink of the third set in a narrow 6-0, 6-7, 7-5 loss. Earlier in the day, Rispoli posted a straight set victory over Michigan's Drew Daniel, 7-5, 6-3.

Northwestern's freshmen all recorded strong performances in Saturday's action. Tobias Reitz (Reinbeck, German/Sachsenwaldschule Reinbeck) lost a nail-biter in the third set tiebreaker to No. 6 seeded Slavko Bijelica of Purdue, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Eric Spector (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) and Josh Graves (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet) both breezed through the first round in straight sets before falling in tough matches to seeded players. Spector and Graves fell to the Badgers' No. 12 Michael Dierberger and No. 10 seed John Allare of MSU, respectively.

Senior Philip Kafka (Dallas, Texas/Greenhill) made use of spot in the draw after qualifying on Friday by advancing to the second round. In first round action, he posted a win over Penn State's Jamie Cox 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. In his fourth match in two days, Kafka loss to No. 8 seed Meedo El Tabakh of Illinois, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round.

No. 16 seeded Wildcat Alex Sanborn (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) fell to Minnesota's Michael Sicora, 7-5, 7-5 in the first round. Sophomore Andrew McCarthy (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) also dropped his first round match to the Spartans' Allare, 6-3, 7-6(4).

The consolation singles matches will begin at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning with main draw action continuing in the afternoon. Complete results and the draw can be found here.