Feb. 21, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After starting Big Ten play with two wins last weekend, the Wildcats will head to North Carolina this weekend for matches against No. 5 North Carolina, Princeton and No. 8 Duke. The 'Cats face the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill at 3 p.m. Friday before heading to Durham for duals against Princeton and Duke on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Live Scoring This Weekend
Live stats for NU vs. UNC can be found by Clicking Here
Live stats for NU vs. Duke on Sunday can be found at goduke.com
Wildcats In The Latest Rankings
No. 2 Northwestern features two players in the top-5 of the latest singles rankings. Georgia Rose is ranked No. 3 and freshman Maria Mosolova is the fifth-ranked singles player in the nation. Three other Wildcats are in the latest rankings with Samantha Murray at No. 25, Lauren Lui at No. 42 and Nazlie Ghazal at No. 69. Murray and Lui are the nation's 10th-ranked doubles team.
Last Time Out
No. 2 Northwestern picked up a pair of conference wins over Penn State
and No. 25 Michigan in its opening weekend of Big Ten play. On Saturday, NU took five matches in straight sets and surrendered one game or less in eight sets en route to a 7-0 sweep of Penn State. Mosolova was one of several Wildcats to make quick work of their opponent in singles with a swift 6-0, 6-0 win over PSU's Katlyn BeVard at No. 1. Rose captured the fourth and clinching point of the dual.
On Sunday, 25th-ranked Michigan came into the Combe Tennis Center riding the momentum of its win over a ranked Tennessee squad earlier in the weekend, but NU won the doubles point and four singles matches to defeat the Wolverines, 5-2. Suzie Matzenauer extended her streak of wins at No. 6 singles to 15, dating back to last season, with her 6-3, 6-4 victory over Michigan's Lindsey Howard. Lui clinched the dual for the 'Cats by defeating Rika Tatsuno 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4.
Scouting The Weekend's Opponents
North Carolina features three ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams. In singles, the Tar Heels boast No. 12 Sanaz Marand, No. 28 Katrina Tsang and No. 76 Austin Smith. In doubles, the team of Sophie Grabinski and Marand are ranked seventh and Smith and Meg Fanjoy are ranked 60th. The Wildcats defeated the Tar Heels, 4-0, at the ITA Indoor Championships two weeks ago.
Princeton is ranked 72nd in the nation and is 5-2 on the year with wins over NJIT, Temple, St. John's, Maryland and Buffalo.
Eighth-ranked Duke features three ranked singles player and one ranked doubles team. Reka Zsilinszka is ranked 13th in the nation and is joined in the rankings by No. 16 Ellah Nze and No. 38 Elizabeth Plotkin. In doubles, Melissa Mang and Amanda Granson are ranked sixth. This is the first meeting this season between the Wildcats and Blue Devils, but NU topped Duke, 6-1, last year at the Combe Tennis Center.
Northwestern Notes
Through nine duals, Northwestern is 39-6 overall in singles and 19-6 overall in doubles.
Suzie Matzenauer is 9-0 at No. 6 singles and owns a 15-match winning streak at that spot dating back to last season.
Lauren Lui is a perfect 5-0 at No. 4 singles. Georgia Rose is undefeated at 6-0 at No. 2. Samantha Murray is 7-1 at No. 3.
Lui and Murray are 4-3 at No. 1 doubles. Nazlie Ghazal and Maria Mosolova are 6-1 at No. 3. Alexis Conill and Rose are 5-1 at No. 2 and have won their last four matches.
The 'Cats are 5-1 against nationally-ranked opponents.