April 7, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- For the third time this season, the Big Ten has honored NU sophomore Maria Mosolova as the conference's player of the week, this time thanks to her three wins in singles and doubles against No. 3 Notre Dame and Purdue. Mosolova and the 'Cats are now faced with a trio of road matches this weekend beginning with William & Mary at 1 p.m. Thursday.
Mosolova picked up the clinching fourth point against the Fighting Irish Saturday with a tense 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over No. 35 Kelcy Tefft at No. 1 singles. It was the eighth win against a top-15 opponent for No. 1 Northwestern as well as the 27th singles victory this year for Mosolova, who is ranked No. 2 nationally and has 20 wins against ranked opponents this season.
The NU sophomore also notched doubles wins against both the Fighting Irish and the Boilermakers, improving to 16-2 this year in dual doubles play. She helped Northwestern continue its run of success in doubles as it clinched the opening point for the 17th time in 18 dual matches.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats (17-1, 6-0) hit the road to face an out-of-conference opponent in William & Mary Thursday before returning to the Midwest for matches at Minnesota on Saturday and at Iowa on Sunday, both at 11 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available for Saturday's contest against the Gophers by following the link on the front page of NUsports.com.
SCOUTING THE TRIBE
William & Mary is 7-10 this season and boasts a No. 55 national ranking. The Virginia school is led by its doubles team of Katarina Zoricic and Ragini Acharya, who are ranked 48th nationally in the most recent ITA poll with an 11-9 record. Zoricic holds down the No. 1 singles spot for the Tribe and has posted an 8-9 mark in duals thus far while Acharya is 8-8 at the second position. Carmen Pop has been solid with a 10-4 mark at the No. 4 singles spot. The Tribe's best win this season came in a 4-3 victory against then-No. 16 Texas on Jan. 31.
NU is 4-2 all-time against William & Mary after opening last season with a 7-0 sweep of the Tribe in Evanston.
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
Minnesota fell to an even 9-9 on the year with a 4-3 loss to Indiana on Sunday in Bloomington but retained its No. 75 ranking in the ITA poll this week. Karina Chiarelli and Alessandra Ferrazzi have paired up to earn a No. 52 ranking in doubles play with a 6-0 record in dual action at the No. 1 spot. The Gophers are paced in singles by Tijana Koprivica, who has a 12-4 record in duals. Minnesota historically has not fared well against Northwestern, however, dropping 30 out of 35 all-time meetings.
SCOUTING THE HAWKEYES
Iowa is 7-11 overall and 2-5 in the Big Ten this year having lost five matches in a row entering Saturday's contest against Wisconsin. No. 87 Sonja Molnar is the only ranked Hawkeye in singles thanks to her 15-3 dual record. Northwestern is 34-2 all-time against Iowa after defeating the Hawkeyes 6-1 back on April 12, 2008.