Aug. 5, 2009
The 2008-09 athletic year at Northwestern University was one to be remembered. Filled with a plethora of memorable wins, honors and championships, there was much to be celebrated this past year in Evanston. Be sure to follow along at NUsports.com through August 10 as a look back is taken at just some of the numerous highlights the Wildcats experienced.
Indoor Team Championship Recap
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Checking in at No. 4 on Northwestern's countdown of the 15 most memorable stories of 2008-09 is the women's tennis team's breakthrough victory at the ITA National Indoor Team Championship on Feb. 16. NU won four matches in four days against the nation's top teams to become the first northern school to win the title in the 22-year history of the event.
In addition to becoming the first program from the Big Ten to take the championship, Northwestern also added its name to a list of past winners that includes just five other schools (Florida, Stanford, Georgia, Duke and Georgia Tech).
Head coach Claire Pollard's squad entered the tournament at Wisconsin undefeated and as the top-seeded team among the 16 participating schools. After knocking off Miami (Fla.) in the opening round, NU found itself in a 3-3 tie against Duke in the quarterfinals with only the No. 5 singles match remaining on the courts. Senior Nazlie Ghazal was on the ropes in the third set against the Blue Devils' Melissa Mang, but Ghazal rallied to win seven of the last eight points to eke out the thrilling victory (6-4, 2-6, 7-5) and send the 'Cats into the semifinals.
Northwestern handled Notre Dame by a 4-1 count in the penultimate match before squaring off with sixth-ranked Georgia in the final. The doubles point came down to a tight match at No. 2, where Maria Mosolova and Keri Robison came back from down 7-6 to defeat Georgia's Monika Dancevic and Nadja Gilchrist in tiebreakers. That win gave NU the momentum it needed to secure three singles wins to wrap up the championship and remain unbeaten on the season.