Jan. 23, 2010
Complete Results
EVANSTON, Ill. -- With some new faces mixed into its 2010 dual lineup, No. 2 Northwestern cruised to a 7-0 victory against No. 47 William & Mary in its season-opening match Saturday in Evanston. Senior Samantha Murray was a winner for the 'Cats at No. 2 singles as well as No. 3 doubles.
Northwestern opened doubles play with three brand new doubles pairings from last year's lineup, although Lauren Lui, Maria Mosolova and Murray each remained holdovers at the No. 1, 2 and 3 doubles spots, respectively.
Mosolova looked comfortable with her new partner, freshman Brittany Wowchuk, as the two defeated Anik Cepeda and Carmen Pop 8-3 to be the first off the courts for NU. The Northwestern duo led comfortably throughout the match and closed things out on the second match point when Mosolova's serve proved too hot to handle for the Tribe.
NU's No. 1 team of Lui and Elena Chernyakova took a commanding 7-2 lead before William & Mary's Ragini Acharya and Lauren Sabacinski made things interesting by closing to within 7-4. But the 'Cats closed the door in the next game, with a Lui backhand winner and a William & Mary foot fault on match point clinching the doubles point for Northwestern.
Murray and Kate Turvy jumped to a 6-2 lead at No. 3 doubles against Katie Kargl and Marlen Mesgarzadeh but lost a tight ninth game after multiple deuce points. Murray helped NU respond with a stellar service game as the 'Cats went ahead 7-3 without dropping a point, but the Tribe rallied to win another close game and close to 7-4. Murray and Turvy gutted out a tough final game, however, to close the match out at 8-4.
Northwestern kept things rolling in singles as four different 'Cats posted 6-2 victories in their respective first sets, including the 48th-ranked Murray at No. 2 against Nina Vulovich. Murray, who spent last season playing the No. 3 singles position, coasted to a 6-0 win in the second set to score NU's second point of the afternoon.
The Wildcats received their next two wins from a pair of freshmen playing on adjacent courts making their dual match debuts in Wowchuk and Turvy. Like Murray, Wowchuk won her second set in impressive 6-0 fashion, finishing off Sabacinski when a Sabacinski return sailed past the baseline.
Turvy, meanwhile, turned in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Pop, ending things with a well-placed drop shot at the net that was out of the reach of her opponent.
Northwestern's clinching point came courtesy of Mosolova at No. 1 singles as the junior and two-time All-American outlasted Acharya 6-2, 6-2.
With the dual match already in hand for the 'Cats, two singles contests reached third set super tiebreakers where NU fought hard to preserve the shutout.
At No. 4, Lui found herself in a tight match with Mesgarzadeh and came back from a 4-3 deficit to go ahead 5-4 in the first. Mesgardzadah tied things up at five and eventually squeaked out the first set in a 7-6 tiebreaker. Lui stepped up her game in the second set, notching the break she needed late in the set to win it 6-4 and send things into a tiebreaker. Tied at three in the breaker, Lui reeled off four straight points to go ahead 7-3. She was able to protect her lead on her way to a 10-6 win in the breaker.
After dropping the first set at No. 6 singles, Chernyakova rebounded in the second to defeat Anik Cepeda 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chernyakova was tough enough to stave off a comeback attempt by Cepeda to hold on and win the breaker 11-9.
The second-ranked 'Cats now have a week to prepare for their opening match of the 2010 National Indoor Team Championship qualifying round. NU takes on Old Dominion at 10 a.m. Saturday in Evanston with hopes of advancing to meet either Princeton or Denver at 2 p.m. Sunday.
#2 Northwestern 7, #47 William & Mary 0
Singles
1: Maria Mosolova (NU) def. Ragini Acharya (WM), 6-2, 6-2
2: Samantha Murray (NU) def. Nina Vulovich (WM), 6-2, 6-0
3: Kate Turvy (NU) def. Carmen Pop (WM), 6-2, 6-1
4: Lauren Lui (NU) def. Marlen Mesgarzadeh (WM), 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6)
5: Brittany Wowchuk (NU) def. Lauren Sabacinski (WM), 6-2, 6-0
6: Elena Chernyakova (NU) def. Anik Cepeda (WM), 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9)
Doubles
1: Chernyakova/Lui (NU) def. Acharya/Sabacinski (WM), 8-4
2: Mosolova/Wowchuk (NU) def. Cepeda/Pop (WM), 8-3
3: Murray/Turvy (NU) def. Kargl/Mesgarzadeh (WM), 8-4
Order of Finish:
Singles: (2, 3, 5*, 1, 6, 4)
Doubles: (2, 1*, 3)