April 17, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After three wins last weekend, including one over second-ranked Notre Dame, the seventh-ranked 'Cats head to Ohio State to take on the Buckeyes at 1 p.m. Wednesday. The match was originally set for April 7, but was rescheduled due to travel complications.
Individually, Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) is ranked 11th nationally in singles while Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) is No. 38 and freshman Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) is No. 119.
In doubles, the pair of Rose and senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) who defeated top-ranked Moulton-Levy and Zoricic of William & Mary two weeks ago and then-eighth-ranked Thompson and Thompson of Notre Dame last week, sit seventh in the latest poll.
The 'Cats are coming off a 3-0 weekend with 5-2 wins over second-ranked Notre Dame, 53rd-ranked Iowa and 57th-ranked Minnesota. Against Notre Dame, Northwestern turned the tables on the Irish, taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Notre Dame had captured the critical first point the last time the two teams met back in February. It proved to be the difference as the Irish took a 4-3 win.
13th-ranked Rose and Prousis took an 8-1 bout over the eighth-ranked pair of Christian and Catrina Thompson. Lui clinched the match for the 'Cats at No. 4. Lui won in straight sets over Kelcy Tefft, 6-4, 6-3.
Behind a sweep of doubles and wins at all but two singles matches, the ninth-ranked Wildcats defeated the 53rd-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers Saturday, 5-2. Sophomore Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) and freshman Suzie Matzenauer (Tacoma, Wash./Bellarmine) cruised to 6-0, 6-0 wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively.
Playing their third match in three days, the ninth-ranked Wildcats were pushed by Iowa Sunday at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center, but used a thrilling doubles win by Lui and Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Keystone National) at No. 1 doubles and solid singles performances to top 57th-ranked Hawkeyes, 5-2. The doubles team fought off four match points to take a 9-7 win at No. 1.
During the break between doubles and singles, head coach Claire Pollard and the Wildcats honored senior Alexis Prousis. Prousis, a two-time All-Big Ten selection, 2006 NCAA doubles champion and 2006 doubles All-American, played her last regular-season match in Evanston.
Notes:
The win over Iowa gave Pollard her 200th victory at Northwestern.
NU's victory over Notre Dame was the Irish's second loss of the season and its worst loss since April 2004.
Lui and Ghazal own seven-match singles winning streaks and have each won 10 of their last 11 singles matches.
As a team, Lui and Robison have won 10 of their last 11 matches.