April 20, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - No. 2 Northwestern guns for its sixth Big Ten regular-season title in the last seven years this weekend when the Wildcats close the regular season at Ohio State at 12 p.m. CT, Saturday, April 23. Indiana does have an outside chance at snatching a share of the title, but the Hoosiers need NU to lose in Columbus.
With the way the `Cats (20-2 overall, 9-0 Big Ten) have dominated the Big Ten this year though, that doesn't seem too likely. Northwestern is a combined 27-0 in conference doubles matches. Couple that with a combined 47-7 singles record and the `Cats have won an astounding .914 percent of conference competition.
Northwestern's top-four singles positions have been automatic in the Big Ten by going a combined 36-0, and five Wildcats boast undefeated conference records. Freshman Audra Cohen (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), junior Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) and sophomore Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Foret) are all 9-0, graduate student Valerie Vladea (Tiffin, Iowa/Burlington Central) is 8-0 and senior Andrea Yung (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) is 7-0.
Those same five Wildcats stake claim to five of the top-six dual match winning percentages among Big Ten players. Yung (10-0) leads the way as the only person in the Big Ten to be undefeated in dual competition. Grier (20-2) is next in line with a .909 winning percentage. Prousis (19-3) is fourth with a .864 mark, Vladea (18-3) is fifth at .857 and Cohen (18-4) is sixth at .818.
The `Cats also will have history on their side Saturday in Columbus, as they hold a 24-6 all-time advantage over the Buckeyes.
Ohio State (7-16, 2-6) is coming off a close, 4-3 win against Michigan State, after dropping its previous five matches. Against the Spartans, the Buckeyes claimed the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and 3 positions. They then got wins from O'Keefe at No. 3, Ruzimovsky at No. 2, and DeCamilla at No. 1. DeCamilla defeated then-No. 121 Keri Thompson in three sets to notch her first victory over a ranked opponent this season.
OSU's other conference win came against then-No. 60 Minnesota, 4-3, back on March 27.
Ruzimovsky holds Ohio State's best singles record at 22-12. She has competed anywhere from the No. 2 to the No. 6 slot. Ruzimovsky has lately played at No. 2, but with a combined 5-0 record at No. 5 and 6, she could pose Northwestern's Yung and freshman Alexis Conill (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) some problems in the bottom half of the lineup.
Nationally Ranked `Cats as of April 19, 2005
Singles
No. 4 Audra Cohen
No. 20 Cristelle Grier
No. 69 Alexis Prousis
Doubles
No. 1 Cohen and Grier
No. 41 Kristi Roemer and Prousis
Team Ranking
No. 1 - Stanford - 109
No. 2 - Northwestern - 88.97
No. 3 - Kentucky - 88.95
No. 4 - Vanderbilt - 87.55
No. 5 - USC - 84.4
Perfect Matches... Doubles
Northwestern has swept the doubles point 12 times this season and all nine Big Ten matches: vs. DePaul (1/19), at Texas A&M (1/29), at Kentucky (1/30) and at Wisconsin (2/13), vs. Michigan (3/26), vs. Michigan State (3/27), at Indiana (4/1), at Penn State (4/3), vs. Iowa (4/9), vs. Minnesota (4/10), vs. Purdue (4/16) and vs. Illinois (4/17).
Perfect Matches... Singles
Northwestern has swept all six singles matches five times this season and three times in the Big Ten: vs. DePaul (1/19), against New Mexico (2/4) at the ITA National Indoor Team Championship, vs. Iowa (4/9), vs. Minnesota (4/10) and vs. Illinois (4/17).
Chasing Recent History
Cohen recorded her 41st victory of the season Sunday, April 17 vs. Illinois against, oddly enough, No. 41 Cynthia Goulet. The win broke Grier's single-season school record of 40 set in 2004. Cohen has only dropped 10 sets in 46 total matches this year.
By the Numbers
18 - consecutive Big Ten matches Northwestern has won, including last year's conference tournament. The Wildcats last conference loss came April 4, 2004 at Illinois, 4-3.
3 - `Cats with at least 30 singles wins already this year. Cohen (41-5), Grier (34-6), Prousis (30-7). Vladea is knocking on the door at 29-8.
6 - Big Ten Titles Claire Pollard has won in six years as head coach.
23 - Streak of wins by Audra Cohen in the fall to begin her college career, during which she claimed three singles titles.
16 - Consecutive wins by Audra Cohen and Cristelle Grier (31-8 overall, 19-2 duals) -- the nation's top-ranked doubles duo.
27-0 - NU's combined doubles record in Big Ten competition.