March 3, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. --With the onset of the 2009 conference season, top-ranked Northwestern aims to continue its decade-long dominance of the Big Ten under head coach Claire Pollard. The Wildcats, who have won an unprecedented 10 consecutive Big Ten championships, face Wisconsin at 4 p.m. Wednesday before heading to East Lansing Saturday for an 11 a.m. match at Michigan State.
Live stats and commentary for the match are available via Wisconsin's in-game blog.
Last season, the Wildcats extended their conference dual winning streak to 64 straight matches and maintained a perfect record (35-0) in Big Ten Tournament play under Pollard.
NU concluded pre-conference slate with a 9-1 record and the program's first ITA National Indoor Team title under its belt, going 7-1 against squads ranked in the top 15 nationally. Northwestern is scheduled to step out of conference three more times before the end of the regular season with matches against Fresno State (March 27), Notre Dame (April 4) and William & Mary (April 9).
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
Northwestern should feel right at home in the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Center, where less than a month ago it ran through the competition to take home the Indoor Team championship. Wisconsin (5-6) is coming off a pair of dual match victories against Big XII opponents, including a 4-3 edging of Oklahoma on Saturday. The Badgers recently landed their first individual national ranking in two years when Liz Carpenter and Angela Chupa earned the No. 40 doubles spot last week. The duo has two upsets against top-40 opponents, including a win against fourth-ranked Sanaz Marand and Sophie Grabinski of North Carolina.
Northwestern is 41-15 all-time vs. Wisconsin and last season led off its Big Ten season with a 7-0 sweep in Evanston.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
Michigan State is an even 6-6 this season after dropping consecutive 4-3 decisions, first against Western Michigan and then against No. 54 Marshall. The Spartans, who are led at the No. 1 singles position by senior Stephanie Kebler, played their Big Ten opener more than two weeks ago, losing 7-0 to in-state foe Michigan. At first doubles, meanwhile, sophomores Manon Noe and Whitney Wilson have won four consecutive matches to improve to 8-3 in dual competitions and 12-8 overall.
NU has dominated the all-time series by winning 32 of its 33 meetings against the Spartans, including a 7-0 victory on April 19 a year ago.
'CATS IN THE BIG TEN
• Considering the unprecedented team success achieved by Northwestern in conference action, it follows that NU's lineup would feature a host of stellar records against Big Ten opponents. Two Wildcats—Lauren Lui (20-0) and Maria Mosolova (10-0)—have yet to lose a conference match while senior Nazlie Ghazal has won 29 of her 30 singles matches in the Big Ten. As for the remainder of NU's singles lineup, Georgia Rose is 23-2, Samantha Murray is 16-4 and Keri Robison is 8-2 in league dual action.