April 1, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Despite having to move indoors after doubles to avoid rain showers, the 10th-ranked Wildcats had little trouble taking care of 50th-ranked Purdue Sunday, 7-0. The 'Cats won all 18 matches in thier first Big Ten home weekend and only surrendered one set over the two contests.
The win improves Northwestern to 11-4, 5-0 in conference while Purdue takes its first Big Ten loss and stands at 3-1 in conference, 10-3 overall.
Although all three doubles matches were close and hard-fought affairs, Northwestern swept all three to take the first point of the dual.
At No. 3, the pair of Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) and Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) downed Anna Dzeva and Alejandra Boeker, 8-5. The Wildcats trailed 1-0, but took a break at 2-1 and held their lead for an 8-5 score.
The No. 2 team of Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Keystone National) clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 win over Cigdem Duru and Neela Vaez. The match stayed on serve until the Wildcats picked up a break for 6-5. They held serve and notched another break to win 8-5.
NU captured a peculiar match at No. 1 doubles when 10th-ranked Alexis Prousis and Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) downed Purdue's 33rd-ranked Mallory Voelker and Brook Beier, 8-6.
The Wildcats stormed out to an early 4-0 lead behind two early breaks. The Boilermakers held serve at 4-1 and then neither team could hold its serve until Purdue closed to 7-6. In total, there were seven-straight breaks before the teams held serve to close the match at 8-6.
Rain forced the match indoors to the Combe Tennis Center as the singles matches were just getting underway.
Once indoors, the 'Cats began to make quick work of the visiting Boilermakers, going up a set on each singles court.
Prousis gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead with a straight-set win over Vaez at No. 3, 6-2, 6-0. Robison and Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) followed suit, winning their matches at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, to clinch the dual at 4-0.
Robison topped Dzeva, 6-2, 6-1, and Ghazal took care of Lauren Shumate, 6-2, 6-1.
Lui defeated Duru at No. 4 in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. The last two matches left on the courts were the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches.
Rose surrendered her first set of Big Ten play to Voelker at No. 1, but won her 10th-straight match with a 10-6 win in a third-set superbreaker.
Rose had trouble in the second set after taking the first frame, 6-1. She played near-flawless tennis in the final points of the superbreaker to take the match, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6).
At No. 2, Murray topped Beier in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
The Wildcats return to action at 11 a.m. Friday at William & Mary. The 'Cats were scheduled to take on the Tribe on March 3 in Cambridge, Mass., but the match was rescheduled due to weather and travel complications. Northwestern resumes Big Ten play Saturday at Ohio State.