Jan. 28, 2006
AUSTIN, Texas -- Northwestern's sixth-ranked women's tennis team began its 2006 dual schedule in grand fashion, blowing past No. 3 Texas 6-1 Saturday at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. After dropping the doubles point, the 'Cats rallied to sweep the singles competition and take the match, earning straight-set wins in four of their six singles matches.
The 'Cats started much later than they had planned, as first serve was pushed back into the afternoon due to inclement weather.
Once the teams did take the court, Texas started out hot, taking two of three doubles matches. The lone winner for the Wildcats was the team of Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) and Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) who topped Texas' Mila Marovic and Kendra Strohm at the No. 1 spot.
Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chapparal) and Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) almost won the doubles point for the NU, but fell in a tiebreaker to the Longhorns' Courtney Zauft and Kelly Baritot 9-8 (2) at No. 3 doubles.
At the No. 2 doubles spot, Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Feriel Esseghir (Sarasota, Fla./UCLA) fell to UT's Petra Dizdar and Marija Milic 8-4.
Down 1-0 heading into singles play, the Wildcats needed to win four of the six singles matches to clinch the match win. Call these 'Cats overachievers because they went the extra mile and won all six singles matches over the nation's third-ranked team.
At No. 1 singles, No. 12 Prousis earned a win over Texas' 55th-ranked Kendra Strohm. While Strohm used a second-set tiebreaker to send the match into a third set, Prousis rallied to take the match 7-5, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (10-8).
Grier notched her second win of the day by beating Dizdar in straight sets at No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-2.
Rose also won her second match of the day in the singles portion, topping UT's Marovic 6-2, 6-3.
Peisel came through for the Wildcats with a three-set win over Zauft 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
Eseghir won her eight-straight singles match by topping Texas' Ristine Olson at No. 5 6-2, 7-5.
At the No. 6 spot, Ghazal flew by the Longhorns' Baritot 6-1, 6-3.
With the win, Northwestern improves to 1-0 this season. The Wildcats now gear up for the National Team Indoor Championships Feb. 2-5 in Madison, Wis.