Feb. 8, 2008
MADISON, Wis. -- No. 3 Northwestern seized the doubles point and took three straight-set singles wins to top No. 7 California in the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor Championships, 4-0. The Wildcats face No. 14 North Carolina in the semifinals at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Tar Heels have knocked off No. 2 seed UCLA and No. 7 seed USC en route to the semifinals.
With the win, Northwestern improves to a perfect 5-0 on the year. The Wildcats have only surrendered two dual points in five matches. California takes its first loss and drops to 2-1. This marks the second-straight season NU has advanced to the semifinals at the ITA Indoor Championships.
Northwestern captured the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3. The match at No. 2 doubles was abandoned with NU's Georgia Rose and Alexis Conill up 7-6 over Cal's Marina Cassou and Claire Ilcinkas.
At No. 1, the seventh-ranked Wildcat tandem of Samantha Murray and Lauren Lui topped the 36th-ranked team of Susie Babos and Stephanie Kusano, 8-6. The No. 3 pair of Nazlie Ghazal and freshman Maria Mosolova handled Cal's Bojana Bobusic and Cristina Visico, 8-0.
The third-ranked Wildcats did not need very long to put away the Bears as they won three matches in straight sets. The No. 2, 4 and 6 singles matches took to the courts first.http://www.collegesports.com/online/netitor/index.html
As she has developed a propensity to do at No. 6, Suzie Matzenauer was the first off the courts with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Kusano. The 68th-ranked Lui was next with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 4 over the 31st-ranked Bobusic.
The ninth-ranked Rose ended the quarterfinal dual with a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 win over Cassou.
Murray and Ghazal did not play their matches with the dual already decided. Mosolova was up 2-0 early in her No. 1 singles match.
Northwestern returns to the court at 3:30 p.m. Saturday for the semifinals against North Carolina. Live scoring and information on the ITA Indoor Championship can be found at www.itatennis.com.
Northwestern 4, California 0
Singles
1. Mosolova (NU) vs. Babos (Cal), DNF
2. Rose (NU) def. Cassou (Cal), 6-4, 6-3
3. Murray (NU) vs. Visico (Cal), DNP
4. Lui (NU) def. Bobusic (Cal), 6-3, 6-3
5. Ghazal (NU) vs. Ilcinkas (Cal), DNP
6. Matzenauer (NU) def. Kusano (Cal), 6-4, 6-2
Doubles
1. Lui/Murray (NU) def. Babos/Kusano (Cal), 8-6
2. Conill/Rose (NU) vs. Cossou/Ilcinkas (Cal), DNF
3. Mosolova/Ghazal (NU) def. Bobusic/Visico (Cal), 8-0