March 1, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Following a successful Big Ten road trip, the fifth-ranked Wildcats head to Cambridge, Mass., for contests against 61st-ranked Harvard and 10th-ranked William & Mary. The 'Cats moved up to No. 5 in this week's ITA rankings following wins over Penn State and No. 24 Michigan. Sophomore Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) has won her last six singles matches.
Congratulations Lauren
Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) was named Big Ten Player of the Week for her performance in Northwestern's wins over Michigan and Penn State last weekend. The honor is the first of her career and the fourth for the Wildcats this season.
Northwestern has captured 4-of-7 weekly honors handed out by the conference this season and three of the last four.
Lui went 2-0 in singles at the No. 4 spot and 2-0 in doubles at No. 2 with partner Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Keystone National).
Lui trailed 5-2 in the first set of her match against Kara Delicata of Michigan, but the freshman won the next 11 games to capture the 7-5, 6-0 straight-set victory. Lui downed Penn State's Jenny Shular in three sets on Sunday.
This is Northwestern's third honor in the past four weeks. Rose had captured two of the last three. Freshman Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) won the first weekly honor handed out this year.
Last Time Out
Sixth-ranked Northwestern won two Big Ten road matches last weekend over Michigan and Penn State. NU was tested, but critical singles wins by Lui and Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) powered the 'Cats past 24th-ranked Michigan Friday, 5-2.
The Wildcats clinched the doubles point when Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) and Murray downed Allie Shafner and Chisako Sugiyama, 8-4, at No. 3 doubles.
Michigan took matches at No. 2 and No. 5 singles to tie the score at 2-2, but Lui and Ghazal won their matches at No. 4 and No. 6, respectively, to clinch the dual. Lui was down 5-2 in the first set of her match against Kara Dlicata, but the freshman won 11-straight games to take the 7-5, 6-0 win.
Northwestern took every match en route to a dominating 7-0 win over Penn State Saturday. Senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) extended her singles winning streak to four with a straight-set win at No. 3.
NU took all six singles matches with only one going to a third set. Rose extended her winning streak to six with a convincing 6-0, 6-0 win over Andreea Niculescu at No. 1.
Look Out For
No. 13 Rose (NU) vs. No. 6 Megan Moulton-Levy (William & Mary)
No. 7 Rose and Prousis (NU) vs. No. 1 Moulton-Levy and Zoricic (William & Mary)