April 26, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Entering her final week of Big Ten competition, Northwestern's three-time senior All-American Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) has been tabbed the Big Ten Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday. Grier's latest weekly honor, the final award of 2006, is the sixth of her career.
Grier finished her Big Ten regular-season career, one of the best in league history, by winning her singles and doubles matches in the Wildcats' regular-season finale versus Ohio State Sunday. Grier, the nation's 14th-ranked singles player, allowed only one point to the Buckeyes' Sonia Ruzimovsky, winning 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles.
Earlier in the day, the 10th-ranked team of Grier and Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) took down Caitlin O'Keefe and Angela DiPastina 8-5 at No. 1 doubles. Grier now stands at 33-10 in singles this season and is 22-6 in doubles alongside Prousis.
Grier will finish her career as arguably the most prolific singles player in Big Ten history. She won 41-consecutive conference singles matches dating back to her freshman year, until she fell in a third-set tiebreak to Illinois' 95th-ranked Macall Harkins two weeks ago. She finishes her career with a 43-1 record in conference singles play.
The award is Grier's second of the season, as she earned the award on February 8 as well.