April 25, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Forced indoors by steady downpours in Madison, Wis., No. 1 Northwestern handled 38th-ranked Ohio State by a 4-0 margin in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals Saturday at the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Center. Head coach Claire Pollard has a chance to guide NU to its 11th consecutive conference tournament title at noon Sunday against second-seeded Michigan.
The victory, which marked the sixth straight sweep by Northwestern (24-1), extended the 2009 Big Ten champion Wildcats' winning streak against conference opponents to 76 straight matches.
Live stats for this afternoon's other semifinal contest as well as brackets and complete tournament information are available on Wisconsin's official Big Ten Tournament Web site.
NU's first win of the day came at second doubles, where Maria Mosolova and Keri Robison, ranked 33rd nationally, broke a 2-2 tie by going on a five-game run to take a commanding 7-2 lead. On match point, Mosolova ended a long rally with a perfect lob to the back corner over the drawn-in Buckeyes as she and Robison extended their winning streak to 14 matches.
At No. 3 doubles, Samantha Murray and Elena Chernyakova trailed 2-0 to start the match but pulled level at four before Ohio State's Kirsten Flower and Paloma Escobedo took a 5-4 lead. Even again at five, Murray and Chernyakova notched a break of the Buckeyes' serve to position themselves for the victory and closed it out with a slam by Murray to win 8-6.
Northwestern's 21st-ranked tandem of Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui stood tied with Ohio State's Angela DiPastina and Christina Keesey at first doubles before the Buckeye duo reeled off three straight games to go up 5-2. Trailing by a 6-3 count, Rose and Lui responded by creeping to within 6-5 before the match was abandoned with OSU leading 7-5.
Murray accounted for the first singles point for NU with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Keesey, upping her season mark to 32-11 overall with an 18-5 record in duals. She is the only Wildcat to finish her singles matches in each of NU's first two postseason dual contests.
Lui was next off the courts for Northwestern after remaining in control against Hubbs for the match's entirety. She won by a 6-2, 6-1 count for her team-leading 33rd win of the year.
Robison, who came into the match having won 6-0 in five of her last six sets, coasted to a 6-1 first-set win against Julie Blackmore before ending the dual with a 6-3 win in the second, improving to 17-3 in duals through her senior campaign.
No. 1 Northwestern 4, No. 38 Ohio State 0
Singles
1: No. 1 Maria Mosolova (NU) vs. Kirsten Flower (OSU), 6-1, 4-3 (unfinished)
2: No. 20 Georgia Rose (NU) vs. Paloma Escobedo (OSU), 6-6 (unfinished)
3: No. 44 Samantha Murray (NU) def. Christina Keesey (OSU), 6-3, 6-2
4: No. 106 Lauren Lui (NU) def. Cami Hubbs (OSU), 6-2, 6-1
5: Angela DiPastina (OSU) vs. No. 125 Nazlie Ghazal (NU), 6-4, 2-5 (unfinished)
6: Keri Robison (NU) def. Julie Blackmore (OSU), 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
1: DiPastina/Keesey (OSU) vs. No. 21 Lui/Rose (NU), 7-5 (unfinished)
2: No. 33 Mosolova/Robison (NU) def. Blackmore/Hubbs (OSU), 8-2
3: Chernyakova/Murray (NU) def. Escobedo/Flower (OSU), 8-6
Order of finish:
Singles (3, 4, 6)
Doubles (2, 3)