March 31, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Behind a sweep of all nine matches, 10th-ranked Northwestern dominated Illinois Saturday, 7-0. The 'Cats surrendered only five games in doubles and no singles matches reached a third set. Sophomore Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) extended her winning streak to nine matches.
The win improves Northwestern to 10-4, 4-0 in conference, while the Illini fall to 4-10, 0-3 in the Big Ten.
Northwestern swept all three doubles matches in convincing fashion, surrendering only five total games. At No. 1, 10th-ranked Rose and Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) downed Megan Fudge and Shivani Davé, 8-2.
The Wildcats used breaks to go up 2-0 and 4-0 and cruised to the 8-2 win by breaking the Illini in the final game. Rose ended the bout with an overhead smash to notch the final break.
At No. 2, Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Keystone National) handled Emily Wang and Alejandra Meza Cuadra, 8-2.
The 'Cats were in control from the start, using a Robison ace to hold serve for 1-0 and a break to pull ahead 2-0. The Wildcats scored the final break to win 8-2. The pair is now a perfect 5-0 in dual matches.
Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) and Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) had little trouble at No. 3 doubles, defeating Kristina Minor and Momei Qu, 8-1. The duo used breaks for 1-0 and 3-0 before sealing the match a final break for 8-1.
The Wildcats went up 2-0 when Illinois' Emily Wong retired at No. 6 singles. Robison had jumped out to an early 5-0 before the match ended.
Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) needed less than 50 minutes to cruise past Meza Cuadra at No. 5 singles, 6-0, 6-0. The sophomore used a solid match from the baseline to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead in the dual and improve her dual mark to 10-4.
Murray clinched the match at No. 2 with a dominant win over Qu, 6-1, 6-0. The 23rd-ranked freshman controlled the match from start to finish and sealed the dual with an ace on the final point.
Lui took a close first set over Minor at No. 4, but gave up only one game in the second set to take the match, 6-4, 6-1.
Rose and Prousis were the last Wildcats left on the courts at No. 1 and No. 3 singles, respectively. Rose took the first set of her match with Fudge, 6-3, but the Illini played tough and made the 15th-ranked Rose fight for every game in the second set.
In almost a mirror image of her doubles partner's match, Prousis took her first set, 6-3, and had to fight through a tough second second set.
The Wildcats seemed to put their feet on the gas pedal at the same time in both their matches, with Rose using a overhead and cross-court winner to break Fudge for 4-1 and Prousis using an ace to take a 3-2 lead and a hard-earned break to pull ahead, 4-2.
Prousis held for 5-2 and took advantage of errors by Davé to win her match at No. 3, 6-3, 6-2. Rose downed Fudge at No. 1, 6-3, 6-3.
"Rose's opponent at No. 1 played a tough match," head coach Claire Pollard said. "She got through it and we're ready to play a very solid team in Purdue tomorrow."
The Wildcats take on the 50th-ranked Boilermakers at 11 a.m. Sunday. Weather permitting, the match will be played outdoors at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center.