Feb. 26, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- In its final two dual contests before the start of the Big Ten schedule, Northwestern will battle No. 6 Duke on Saturday for the second time this season before hosting No. 12 North Carolina on Sunday at Combe Tennis Center. Thanks to an 8-0 record and a 6-0 mark against teams ranked in the top 15, the Wildcats have earned the top spot in the ITA team polls for the fourth consecutive week.
Live scoring for this weekend's matches is available by clicking here.
SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
Northwestern dealt sixth-ranked Duke (8-1) its only setback of the season on Valentine's Day in the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor Team Championship in Wisconsin. With the team score tied at three, the outcome of the dual hinged on the No. 5 singles match between NU's Nazlie Ghazal and Duke's Melissa Mang. Ghazal won the final two games to break a 5-5 tie in the third set and send Northwestern into the semifinals.
The Blue Devils feature a deep lineup that includes 24th-ranked Ellah Nze, 31st-ranked Reka Zsilinszka and No. 50 Mallory Cecil, a talented a freshman who pushed NU's Maria Mosolova to a third set two weeks ago. Like the Wildcats, Duke has played one dual match since the Indoor Team Championship, a 6-1 defeat of 25th-ranked Texas A&M in Durham.
SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS
North Carolina is 9-2 entering this weekend but will preface its match at Northwestern with a stop in South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame on Friday. At the Indoor Championship, UNC lost a narrow 4-3 decision in its opening-round match vs. then-No. 4 Baylor before finishing its weekend with a 5-2 loss to Stanford and a 6-1 win over Wisconsin.
UNC's top two singles players are junior Sanaz Marand (No. 29) and senior Sophie Grabinski, who checks in with a No. 93 ranking. Marand and Grabinski pose a tough challenge on the doubles side, earning the nation's No. 4 ranking. NU and North Carolina squared off in seven singles matches during fall competition with the 'Cats winning five of them, including one each by Mosolova and Georgia Rose against Marand.
NORTHWESTERN NOTES
• After playing just one match together during the 2007-08 season, Mosolova and senior Keri Robison have joined forces at doubles this season and posted an 8-2 record, including a 5-1 mark in dual matches. Not to be outdone, freshman Elena Chernyakova and junior Samantha Murray are 7-1 as a tandem this year and are unbeaten (6-0) in dual action.
• Robison has also taken a firm hold of her sixth singles position, going 5-2 in dual matches at that spot. All five of her wins have come in straight sets and she has won 14 of her last 18 sets played.
LAST TIME OUT
No. 1 Northwestern put its undefeated dual record on the line against fourth-ranked Georgia Tech and came away victorious once again, edging the Yellow Jackets, 5-2, at the Bill Moore Tennis Center in Atlanta Sunday. Ghazal clinched the fourth point for NU with a hard-fought three-set victory against Georgia Tech's Sasha Krupina. With Northwestern leading 3-2, she took command in the first set, winning 6-1 before dropping the second by a 6-4 margin. The third frame was knotted at four before Ghazal closed out the match for NU with consecutive game victories.
Rose notched a three-set win at No. 2 singles against 10th-ranked Amanda McDowell, the 2008 NCAA singles champion, and paired with Lauren Lui to defeat the fifth-ranked doubles team of McDowell and Irina Falconi, 8-2. Rose was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for her performances against the Yellow Jackets. Murray and Robison also won singles matches for the 'Cats.