Feb. 5, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Fresh off a win over top-ranked Georgia Tech, the Wildcats are ready to dual with the nation's top teams at the ITA National Indoor Championships hosted by Wisconsin. Northwestern moved from seventh to third in the latest ITA rankings and is a program-best No. 3 seed in this year's tournament.
The Wildcats face Fresno State at 9 a.m. Thursday. The winner of the 'Cats' first-round match faces the winner of Clemson and sixth-seeded California.
Northwestern's win last weekend snapped Georgia Tech's 23-match winning streak and 19-match home winning streak. The No. 3 ranking is one shy of NU's program best ranking of two.
This year's 16-team ITA Indoor Championships field consists of: Arkansas, No. 11 Baylor, No. 7 California, No. 16 Clemson, No. 12 Fresno State, No. 6 Georgia, No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Miami, No. 14 North Carolina, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 19 Notre Dame, No. 8 USC, No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 UCLA, No. 13 William & Mary and host Wisconsin.
Last Time Out
In college tennis' first marquee dual of 2008, No. 7 Northwestern defeated No. 1 Georgia Tech in convincing fashion Saturday in Atlanta, 6-1. Ninth-
ranked Georgia Rose put the Wildcats ahead for good and Suzie Matzenauer clinched NU's win over the defending national champions. NU started sluggishly in the doubles portion of the dual, falling behind a break on all three courts.
At No. 1, the seventh-ranked pair of Lauren Lui and Samantha Murray trailed 4-1 to Kristi Miller and Kirsten Flower, but fought back to take the lead and win the match, 8-5. The same was true for the No. 3 tandem of Nazlie Ghazal and Maria Mosolova, who fought back from an early hole to take a late lead. Mosolova and Ghazal gave NU a doubles victory with an 8-6 win over Noelle Hickey and Christy Striplin.
Rose and Murray both played third sets as the 22nd-ranked McCray took the second set, 7-5, over Murray, and Rose stormed back to take her second set over the third-ranked McDowell, 6-2. Both Wildcats would win their matches to give NU a 3-1 lead. Rose took her match, 0-6, 6-2, 6-1, and Murray's victory came by a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 score.
The other three singles matches took to the courts, and Matzenauer took a convincing first set over the 56th-ranked Hickey before clinching the dual with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 6. The Wildcats put the exclamation points on its victory when Lui and Ghazal both won in straight sets.
Northwestern Notes
Northwestern's No. 3 rankings is one shy of a program-high of No. 2 that the Wildcats achieved in 2005.
The No. 3 seed in the ITA Indoor Championships ties a program best. The 'Cats were the No. 3 seed in 2006.
Northwestern has lost only one singles match and one doubles match through three duals in 2008. The 'Cats are 17-1 in singles and 8-1 in doubles.
Matzenauer has played at No. 6 in all three matches and has posted a 3-0 record. Rose is 3-0 at No. 2 singles and Murray is 3-0 at No. 3.
The tandem of Ghazal and Mosolova has been the only Wildcat team to get more than one match together this season. They are 2-0 at No. 3.
Wildcat singles players are 9-1 against ranked opponents.
First Round
No. 1 Stanford vs. Baylor
No. 8 Miami vs. William & Mary
No. 4 Georgia Tech vs. Wisconsin
No. 5 Georgia vs. Notre Dame
No. 6 California vs. Clemson
No. 3 Northwestern vs. Fresno State
No. 7 USC vs. Arkansas
No. 2 UCLA vs. North Carolina
Complete draws and results from the ITA National Indoor Championships will be available at the ITA National Women's Team Indoor Championships Homepage.