No. 6 Northwestern Falls to No. 8 Duke 5-2

Feb. 26, 2006

DURHAM, N.C. -- Northwestern's sixth-ranked women's tennis team took two singles wins and a doubles victory, but fell to No. 8 Duke Sunday. Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) picked up her 14th-consecutive singles win in the loss.

Duke struck first in the match as the 45th-ranked doubles team of Melissa Mang and Jessi Robinson defeated Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) and Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) 8-4 at No. 3 doubles.

Northwestern's fifth-ranked team of Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) and Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) then evened the doubles wins at 1-1 with a key 8-6 win over Duke's sixth-ranked team of Daniela Bercek and Jessi Robinson at the No. 1 position.

Rose and Feriel Esseghir (Sarasota, Fla./Brickhouse Academy) battled against the Blue Devils' Kristin Cargill and Jackie Carleton, but fell to the Duke pair 8-4 at No. 2 doubles, securing the doubles point for Duke.

Duke extended its lead to 2-0 when Mang notched the 6-0, 6-1 win over Esseghir at No. 5 singles.

Duke's 57th-ranked Tara Iyer then made the score 3-0 Duke with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Peisel at No. 4 singles.

No. 36 Rose then got Northwestern on the board with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over Jenny Zika at No. 3 singles. The win is Rose's 14th-straight singles win this season.

Duke then clinched the match when the 34th-ranked Carleton topped No. 15 Prousis at No. 2 singles 6-4, 6-1.

Duke made it 5-1 when the second-ranked Bercek beat No. 10 Grier 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.

Ghazal tallied Northwestern's second point of the match when she came through with a win at No. 6. After taking the first set, Ghazal dropped the second but rallied in the third-set tiebreaker to take the 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (2) win.

With the loss, Northwestern falls to 7-3 on the season.

The 'Cats return to action when they travel to Atlanta to take on No. 5 Georgia Tech at noon Saturday, March 4.

Doubles
1. #5 Cristelle Grier/Alexis Prousis (N) d. #6 Daniela Bercek/Jessi Robinson (D), 8-6
2. Kristin Cargill/Jackie Carleton (D) d. Georgia Rose/Feriel Esseghir (N), 8-4
3. #45 Melissa Mang/Jenny Zika (D) d. Jamie Peisel/Alexis Conill (N), 8-4
Order of Finish: 3,1,2*
Singles
1. #2 Daniela Bercek (D) d. #10 Cristelle Grier (N), 7-5, 6-2
2. #34 Jackie Carleton (D) d. #15 Alexis Prousis (N), 6-4, 6-1
3. #36 Georgia Rose (N) d. Jenny Zika (D), 6-1, 7-6 (4)
4. #57 Tara Iyer (D) d. Jamie Peisel (N), 6-3, 6-2
5. Melissa Mang (D) d. Feriel Esseghir (N), 6-0, 6-1
6. Nazlie Ghazal (N) d. Kristin Cargill (D), 7-5, 4-6 (10-2)
Order of finish: 5,4,3,2*,1,6
*clinching match