May 19, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University women's tennis player Cristelle Grier (36-6) kept her title hopes alive at the NCAA Women's Tennis Singles Championship with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Notre Dame's Alicia Salas Monday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla.
NU's Jessica Rush, also making her first NCAA Singles appearance, fell (6-1, 6-3) in the first round to No. 1 seed Vilmarie Castellvi of Tennessee.
Grier needed only one hour and thirty-five minutes to defeat Salas to advance to the second round of the tournament. She will meet Florida's Lindsay Dawaf. Grier and Dawaf did not meet this season.
Rush will join Grier in doubles action Tuesday morning as the duo takes on USC's No. 1 tandem of Jewel Peterson and Tiffany Brymer in first round action.