Oct. 21, 2006

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Seniors Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College) and Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice) advanced to the round of 16 Saturday at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships held at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis. Lock and senior Christian Tempke (Wentorf, Germany/Gymnasium LohbrÜgge) advanced to the second round of the singles draw.

Lock and Christian, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, defeated Michigan's Mazlin/Peretz to advance to the round of 16, 8-4. The duo will next face the pair of Brinkley/Rutherford from Marquette for a spot in the quarterfinals. The other doubles team in the second round, Tempke and junior Juan Gomez (Mexico City, Mexico), fell to Notre Dame's Helgeson/King, 8-4.

In singles, Lock advanced to the second round by topping Trenton Hagan of Marquette, 6-3, 6-2, but the story of the first round was Tempke. The senior rolled his ankle in a match with Michigan's George Navas and had to have the ankle tapped. Injury timeouts halted the match twice, but Tempke played on. He defeated Navas in three sets, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4).

In other singles action, both Christian and sophomore Alexey Evstratenkov (Moscow, Russia/Moscow International Gymnasia) fell in their first round matches.

"Tempke had to gut out a very tough three-set match and played like an experienced senior," head coach Paul Torricelli said. "Willy and Matt continue to play really well. They are on a roll, but it's going to get tougher. If Willy keeps his play up, he'll have a long day in front of him."

Sunday's session calls for two rounds of both singles and doubles. Lock is the only Wildcat still in both draws.

Wildcats in action Sunday:
Christian/Lock vs. Brinkley/Rutherford (Marq)
Tempke vs. Drew Eberly (OSU)
Lock vs. Brady Crosby (W.Mich)

Saturday's Results:
Helgeson/King (ND) def. Gomez/Tempke, 8-4
Christian/Lock def. Mazlin/Peretz (Mich), 8-4
Nick Rinks (MSU) def. Evstratenkov, 7-5, 6-4
Nic Edlefsen (Minn) def. Christian, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3