Feb. 8, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. -- In the first of two weekend duals, Northwestern will face the 34th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth Rams at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The 'Cats will remain in the state of Virginia Sunday and meet William & Mary for the first time. Their dual is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.

NU and VCU have only met once in school history, a Wildcat victory in the 1996 NCAA Tournament. This season, VCU is 1-1 in duals and the William & Mary Tribe is 6-3, coming off victories over Oklahoma and Purdue, respectively.

The 'Cats are 1-1 on the road this season and 4-1 at home, having just completed a three match home stand against Butler, Notre Dame, and Bradley. Sophomore Alex Sanborn improved to 6-1 in singles matches this year, including an undefeated 3-0 record at No. 4. The tandem of Pete Rispoli and Alexander Thams have continued their strong play this season with a 5-2 record at No. 2 doubles.

Last Time Out

Northwestern improved to 5-2 this season -- matching its best start since the 2003-04 campaign -- with a 7-0 defeat of the Bradley Braves Saturday afternoon at Combe Tennis Center.

The 'Cats started with the doubles point, winning all three matches in convincing fashion. At No. 1, Alex Sanborn and Marc Dwyer defeated Bradley's tandem of Evgeny Samoylov and Milos Romic 8-2, reeling off five straight points to close it out. The No. 3 team of Juan Gomez and David Seyferth also won with a score of 8-2, defeating the Braves' Wilder Sampson and Vuk Bolic, with match point coming off a Seyferth backhand volley winner.

Northwestern's splendid play continued with victories in all six singles matches. Perhaps the most dominating match was Alex Sanborn's 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Bradley's Vuk Bolic at No. 3 singles. Sanborn reeled off 11 consecutive points before Bolic got on the board at 5-1 in the second set.