Jan. 27, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's sixth-ranked women's tennis team opens the dual portion of its schedule by facing one of the nation's top teams in No. 3 Texas at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 28 at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center. The nation's 12th- and 23rd-ranked singles players Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) lead the Wildcats into the season opener and will begin the match together as the eighth-ranked doubles team.
Northwestern and Texas last met during the 2005 season when the Wildcats scored a 5-2 victory in Evanston. Northwestern also claimed the last meeting between the two teams in Austin, winning by a 4-3 count during the 2003 season. The 'Cats enjoy a 5-3 advantage in the all-time series with the Longhorns.
The Wildcats enter the match after a highly successful run in the Wildcat Invitational. Northwestern went 20-3 in singles and 7-3 in doubles play during the four-day tournament.
Prousis stands at 17-5 overall this season while Grier is 15-7. They've combined to go 12-2 together in doubles play this season.
While Grier and Prousis have been impressive, other Wildcats have stepped up as well this season.
Senior Feriel Esseghir (Sarasota, Calif./UCLA) dropped her first three matches of the season, but has roared back to win her last seven-consecutive matches.
Freshman Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chapparral) has already proven she can have success on the college level. She is 13-4 this season and is enjoying a five-match winning streak.
Texas looks to regroup after dropping a tightly contested match at Arizona State. The Sun Devils were forced to win nine games at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles positions to earn the doubles point and took four, three-set victories to close out the Longhorns. Texas junior Petra Dizdar tallied the lone Longhorns point when she defeated ASU's Roxanne Clarke in three sets at the No. 2 singles position.
Live scoring for the match is available at www.TexasSports.com.