NU-Indiana: Gordon on fire early

The superfreshman has outscored the Cats by himself so far, 9-5, as IU takes an 11-5 lead into the under-16 timeout (for those of you who don't know, there are mandatory TV timeouts at the first stoppage of play under 16, 12, 8, and 4 minutes in each half). NU may have to abandon its zone defense if Gordon keeps draining threes; he's 3-3 from deep thus far. On offense, the Cats have been stagnant, just picking up a shot-clock violation.

Live Blogging NU-Indiana: Before the Storm

Hey, this is Jake Simpson, assistant sports editor, kicking off live updates from Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. Today, Northwestern takes on No. 11 Indiana looking to score the upset. The Wildcats will have to deal with IU's dynamic duo of superfreshman Eric Gordon and dominant big man D.J. White. Gordon leads the team and is second among freshman nationwide in scoring with 21.4 ppg. White is averaging a double-double per game (17.1 ppg and 10.6 ppg) and is considered one of the best big men in the conference.

Honestly, folks, it will take a Herculean effort from NU to knock off the Hoosiers today. We will see.

Women's Tennis: NU knocks off top-ranked Georgia Tech

Everyone knew today's match was big - after all, it was the first match of the season between two top-10 teams. Not to mention, the teams have seven top-25 ranked players and five top-10 singles players between them.
Plus, No. 7 NU has won a record of nine straight Big Ten championships.
Oh, and Georgia Tech is the defending national champions and the No. 1 team in the nation.

Today's match was big - and the Cats came out to win.

NU didn't just beat Georgia Tech, but did so in a dominating fashion, winning 6-1.

In doubles play, all three pairs started off slowly, losing 1-4. At the No. 3 spot, junior Nazlie Ghazal and freshman standout Maria Mosolova rallied back, winning 8-6. Junior Georgia Rose and sophomore Suzie Matzenaeur were unable to come back, losing 3-8. With the doubles point on the line, sophomores Lauren Lui and Samantha Murray, who are ranked No. 7 nationally as a pair, came back to win 8-5, clinching the doubles point and putting NU up 1-0.

In singles play, No. 2 ranked Mosolova fell to No. 7 ranked Kristi Miller at the No.1 singles spot. No. 9 Georgia Rose was able to come back after being shut out in the first set, winning the last two 6-2, 6-1. At the No. 4 spot, Lauren Lui upset Maya Johansson, who is ranked sixth in the nation in singles play. Suzie Matzenauer clinched the Cats' win after dominating at the No.6 spot, winning 6-3, 6-3.

Up next for the Cats is the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

-- Jessie Cai

Women's Basketball: NU vs. Purdue preview

NU is scheduled to go up against the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday at 1 p.m at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Purdue is currently in first place in the Big Ten, so excluding a monumental upset, NU will most likely see its winless streak increase to 11 straight games.

That's not to say NU's season has not had its bright spots. After missing a month due to a wrist injury, freshman center Amy Jaeschke has emerged as a dominating figure for the Wildcats. Fellow freshman Meshia Reed has earned a spot in the starting lineup, and sophomore guard Jenny Eckhart has awoken from her early doldrums to become one of NU's most reliable playmakers.

Going into the last month of the season, there is only so much the Cats can do to salvage their weak performances thus far. But getting at least one win against a Big Ten opponent seems like a reasonable goal.

Men's Tennis: Bradley Recap

After a tough 7-0 loss on Thursday, Northwestern came back and beat Bradley by the same score Saturday morning at the Combe Tennis Center. The Wildcats claimed the doubles point quickly with a pair of 8-2 victories at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Junior Marc Dwyer and sophomore captain Alex Sanborn played at No. 1 and senior Juan Gomez and freshman David Seyferth played at No. 3. NU was just as commanding in the singles round. Graduate student Alexander Thams earned the first singles point by winning his match 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles. Sanborn followed with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 3. And Seyferth clinched the Cats’ victory with a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 6.

Wrestling: NU drops close dual to No. 8 Penn State

No. 10 Northwestern fell to No. 8 Penn State 18-15 Friday night in Evanston. The loss dropped NU to 0-2 in the Big Ten.

Still, the dual had its bright spots for NU, including No. 3 197-pounder Mike Tamillow's 6-1 victory over No. 2 Phil Davis of Penn State. The win avenged a loss to Davis a year ago and makes Tamillow the Big Ten favorite at 197 pounds.

Sophomore 125-pounder Brandon Precin, ranked fifth in the country, also notched a big victory on the night. In the fifth period of overtime, Precin scored a takedown to knock off No. 10 Mark McKnight 4-3.

Redshirt freshman Keith Sulzer capped off the best week of his collegiate career with a 5-3 win over No. 10 Jake Strayer. Sulzer defeated Iowa's Dan LeClere, ranked ninth, 9-3 on Sunday.

- Wade Askew

Men's Tennis: January Review

So we’re about halfway through the non-conference schedule before the Wildcats kick off Big Ten play with Michigan on February 22^nd. So why not take a closer look to see how the Northwestern players have been performing individually.

Marc Dwyer:

- Junior Dwyer is playing well at both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in singles. He has a record of 4-2 in singles going 2-1 at both spots.

- Notable Win: Dwyer broke Butler’s Ben Raynauld at No. 1 to win both sets and clinched NU’s dominant victory over the Bulldogs 7-0

- Notable Loss: Dwyer lost to Notre Dame’s Brett Helgeson, who’s ranked 11^th in the nation, in the No. 1 spot 6-3, 6-2.

Alexander Thams:

- Graduate student Thams started the season struggling a bit at No. 1 singles, but has been playing more and more steadily at the No. 2 spot. Thams’ singles record is 2-3.

- Notable Win: Thams defeated University of Chicago’s Lado Bakhutashvili 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 for his first victory of the dual season.

- Notable Loss: Thams fell short in a tight match against Notre Dame’s Sheeva Parbhu 6-4, 7-6 (8) at No. 2.

Alex Sanborn:

- Sophomore captain Sanborn has the best record of all the Wildcats at 5-1. He has played consistently at both the No. 3 and No. 4 singles spot.

- Notable Win: Sanborn blanked University of Chicago’s Tim Walsh in both sets to win 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4.

- Notable Loss: Sanborn’s only loss was a tight one that came against his Houston rival, Notre Dame’s Andrew Roth. Sanborn was defeated 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 at No. 3.

Pete Rispoli:

- Freshman Rispoli has shared time at both the No. 3 and No. 4 spot. Rispoli had some trouble at No. 3, but has shown more consistency at No. 4. Rispoli’s overall dual singles record is 2-3.

- Notable Win: Rispoli came back from his first set loss to win his match against Butler’s Bryce Warren. Rispoli won the match 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (5).

- Notable Loss: Rispoli played in a close match against Louisville’s David Simon. Rispoli was edged out 7-6, 7-6 at No. 3.

Juan Gomez:

- Senior Gomez has been very solid at No. 5 singles the entire season with a 4-2 record.

- Notable Win: Gomez earned a point for the Cats in the shortened 4-0 victory over University of Illinois at Chicago. Gomez beat UIC’s Tim O’Brien 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5.

- Notable Loss: Gomez lost in a close match against Notre Dame’s David Anderson that clinched the Fighting Irish’s victory. Gomez was defeated 7-5, 6-4 at No. 5.

David Seyferth:

- Freshman Seyferth has turned in solid play so far in dual play with a 2-2 record at No. 6.

- Notable Win: The freshman earned his first victory in a three-set match against Ball State’s Jimmy Brannon. Seyferth bested Brannon 7-6 (0), 1-6, 1-0 (2).

- Notable Loss: Seyferth lost in a close match against Louisville’s Robert Rotaru 7-5, 7-5 at No. 6. It was Seyferth’s first loss of the season.

Other Players:

- Junior Philip Kafka won the only match he played in against University of Chicago’s Joseph Tchan. Kafka bested Tchan 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6.

- Freshman Andrew McCarthy has not participated in dual play and is sitting out due to injury.