Feb. 9, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - After posting a 2-1 record at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Team Championship at Wisconsin last week, fifth-ranked Northwestern returns to Combe Tennis Center Friday, Feb. 11 for a 3 p.m. match against 26th-ranked William & Mary. The Wildcats are 1-2 all-time against The Tribe.
William & Mary (3-0) recently moved up two spots in the latest national rankings -- released Feb. 8 -- while the `Cats (5-1) held firm at No. 5.
William & Mary moved up in the rankings despite being idle last week. The bump in status can be attributed to The Tribe's nearly perfect year thus far. They beat East Tennessee State 7-0, Richmond 6-1 and most recently swept West Virginia 7-0 Jan. 30.
They feature the 10th-ranked doubles duo in the nation -- Megan Muth and Amy Wei. Muth also ranks 36th in singles, while Megan Moulton-Levy ranks 33rd. Muth and Moulton-Levy are both 3-0 in singles, each having not dropped a single set.
Northwestern's Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) has the biggest head of steam for the Wildcats, having gone 3-0 in singles at the National Indoor Championship. Peisel now stands at 3-1 on the year.
Freshman Audra Cohen (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) and Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) still boast the No. 1 doubles ranking, but stumbled a bit last week by going 1-2. The duo fell to Georgia and the nation's fourth-ranked team from New Mexico before getting back on track with a 9-8 win against Tulane.
Cohen, Grier and Valerie Vladea (Tiffin, Iowa/Burlington Central) all share a team-best 5-1 singles record.
Senior Kristi Roemer (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) and sophomore Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) have proved to be the steadiest doubles team for Northwestern. The duo has a team-best 4-1 record.
Following Friday's match, Northwestern will travel back to Wisconsin Sunday, Feb. 13 -- this time to open the Big Ten season against the Badgers at 10 a.m. The 'Cats are 36-15 all-time against Wisconsin and most recently swept the Badgers 7-0 last spring.
The ITA will release new rankings for singles and doubles Feb. 22.