May 15, 2009
NCAA.com Interactive Bracket
Results
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- For the third time in four years, Northwestern is headed to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships, this time following a 4-0 defeat of No. 16 Fresno State at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. The top-ranked Wildcats received singles wins from Keri Robison, Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui to hand the Bulldogs their first loss since March 27, which also came against NU.
NU (28-1), winner of 20 consecutive matches, has just under 48 hours before the scheduled start of its quarterfinal match against eighth-seeded California, which ousted the No. 9 seed Georgia Tech with a 4-0 victory on Friday. Northwestern and Cal are now scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Sunday, pushed back from its original 4 p.m. start time after inclement weather postponed several men's matches on Saturday afternoon. Live scoring and video of each match is available on Texas A&M's official NCAA Championships Web site.
Sunday's match marks a repeat of Northwestern's 2008 quarterfinal contest in which Cal managed a 4-2 upset of the top-ranked Wildcats. A win against the Golden Bears would tie NU's program record for dual victories in a season with 29, set last season.
Playing in 90-degree-plus heat, Northwestern came away victorious after an exciting doubles session against one of the nation's top doubles lineups, winning at the first and third positions to take a 1-0 lead entering singles.
"Winning the doubles point was huge against a team the quality of Fresno State, we squeaked it out in a breaker against them in the regular season and I thought to win today was a big momentum boost for us," said head coach Claire Pollard. "I thought we took control of the match early on and did a good job staying composed when it was tough."
Samantha Murray and Elena Chernyakova grinded out an important 8-4 win at No. 3 in a match that seemed closer than the final score indicates. Leading 3-2 against Fresno's Danon Beatty and Laura Pola, Murray and Chernyakova went up a break at 4-2 before the Bulldogs broke back to make it 4-3. Later protecting a 6-4, a lead, Murray dropped the final hammer on an efficient service game by Chernyakova to give NU the three-game advantage on the way to the win.
NU's 20th-ranked tandem of Rose and Lui was faced with the prospect of taking on the nation's No. 1-ranked duo of Anastasia Petukhova and Renata Kucerkova, who had edged the Wildcat pair in tiebreakers during a regular season matchup on March 27. The match seemed destined to come down to the wire once again when Fresno broke NU's serve to take a 6-5 lead. The Bulldogs then looked in command in the ensuing game up 40-0 when Lui and Rose stormed all the way back, with Lui winning an Ad point and game point on consecutive slams at the net to even things at six.
The momentum remained on Northwestern's side as NU lost just one point in Rose's next service game to go ahead 7-6. Lui and Rose trailed 40-30 but won three straight points to lock up the doubles point for NU and improved to 18-7 in duals this season.
Keri Robison and Maria Mosolova also came from behind late in their No. 2 match against 15th-ranked Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe, winning three straight games to take a 7-5 lead before their match was abandoned.
Northwestern was a bit more in control from the start in singles, particularly at sixth singles where Robison jumped to a 6-2 first-set win against Bruna Paes. In the second, Robison remained in control and dropped just one more game the rest of the way, winning on match point when a Paes rally overshot the baseline, giving Robison her 30th singles win on the season.
Rose trailed in her first set against Petukhova by a 4-2 margin but overpowered Petukhova from that point forward, winning the first set 6-4. She notched a break to start the second and managed to take a 5-2 lead, tirelessly tracking down Petukhova's best efforts despite the mid-afternoon heat. Two unforced errors and a winner by Rose sealed the 6-3 second-set win for Rose, who enters the quarterfinals on a nine-match winning streak.
"I almost felt like in doubles Georgia wanted it a little too much and I thought Mark (Henderson) did a good job getting her to calm down a little bit," Pollard said. "We're certainly hungry for it and I thought Georgia looked hungry and eager and that's the atmosphere of your first match here."
Northwestern's clinching point came courtesy of Lui at fourth singles, who defeated Tinesta Rowe, 6-3, 6-1. Lui's well-placed passing shot of a drawn-in Rowe to end the match was indicative of Lui's sharp play all afternoon in both singles and doubles.
No. 1 Northwestern 4, No. 16 Fresno State 0
Singles:
1: No. 18 Melanie Gloria (FSU) vs. No. 1 Maria Mosolova (NU), 7-6 (5) unfinished
2: No. 20 Georgia Rose (NU) def. No. 27 Anastasia Petukhova (FSU), 6-4, 6-3
3: No. 67 Renata Kucerkova (FSU) vs. No. 47 Samantha Murray (NU), 7-5, 2-2 unfinished
4: No. 119 Lauren Lui (NU) def. Tinesta Rowe (FSU), 6-3, 6-1
5: No. 115 Nazlie Ghazal (NU) vs. Laura Pola (FSU), 6-3, 4-3 unfinished
6: Keri Robison (NU) def. Bruna Paes (FSU), 6-2, 6-1
Doubles:
1: No. 24 Lui/Rose (NU) def. No. 1 Kucerkova/Petukhova (FSU), 8-6
2: No. 29 Mosolova/Robison (NU) vs. No. 15 Gloria/Rowe, 7-5
3: Chernyakova/Murray (NU) def. Beatty/Pola (FSU), 8-4
Order of finish:
Singles (6, 2, 4)
Doubles (3, 1)