Feb. 22, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After a week of facing three-straight top-10 opponents at home, the Wildcats return to Big Ten action with road contests at Michigan and Penn State. The sixth-ranked 'Cats take on the 24th-ranked Wolverines Friday at 2 p.m. before facing the Nittany Lions at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
"We are looking forward to Big Ten competition," head coach Claire Pollard said. "We know everyone is gunning for us so we'll need to be ready."
'Cats in the Latest Rankings
The Wildcats have three singles players and all three doubles teams in the latest ITA rankings released Feb. 22. Rose, unranked to start the winter because of a lack of sufficient fall results, vaulted into the No. 13 spot in singles. Freshman Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) makes her first appearance at No. 19. Freshman Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) is ranked 78th.
In doubles, Rose and senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) moved up to No. 7 from No. 30 while Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) and Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Keystone National) are 47th, followed by Lui and Murray at No. 51.
"I am pleased to see the hard work the girls have been putting in has been paying off," Pollard said.
Congratulations Georgia
Rose was named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time this season. The honor was the second for Rose in the past three weeks and the fourth of her career. Northwestern has captured three-of-six weekly honors given out by the conference this season.
Rose extended her winning streak over top-50 singles players to four last weekend with straight-set wins over No. 38 Jessica Zok of Baylor and North Carolina's seventh-ranked Jenna Long. Rose is 7-1 in dual matches.
In doubles, Rose and Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) had little trouble at No. 1, defeating Baylor's Zok and and Zrustova, 8-3. On Sunday, the duo topped the 24th-ranked pair of Marand and Collins from North Carolina by the same score.
Live Stats
Michigan will have live stats available for Friday's match. You can access the live scoring by clicking here.
Last Time Out
Rose knocked off her fourth-straight top-50 opponent at No. 1 singles, but the seventh-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels outlasted the sixth-ranked Wildcats Sunday at Combe Tennis Center, 4-3. The doubles point proved to be the difference as the teams split the six singles matches.
NU captured the matches at No. 2 and No. 3 to force the split in singles. At No. 2, Murray needed a third-set "superbreaker" to down 19th-ranked Katrina Tsang, 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5). Murray led throughout the second set and had several match points, but the Tar Heel fought to force the abbreviated third set. Murray rolled in the breaker to give NU its second point of the dual.
Prousis downed the 33rd-ranked Austin Smith at No. 3 in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6). After 4-4 in the second set, neither player could hold serve and seize control until the breaker. Prousis captured the close tiebreak to make the final score 4-3.
Watch Highlights of the 'Cats
Click the links below to watch video highlights.
to watch Prousis in action against Duke.
to watch Rose and Prousis against Georgia Tech.
to watch Rose in action against Baylor.