April 17, 2010
Complete Results
Site: Evanston, Ill. (Vandy Christie Tennis Center)
Score: No. 9 Northwestern 7, No. 21 Iowa 0
Records: NU (15-6, 6-1 Big Ten), Iowa (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Sunday, April 18 -- vs. No. 60 Minnesota (Vandy Christie Tennis Center), 11 a.m.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Judging by a tightly contested doubles point that came down to the third match, fans at Northwestern's Vandy Christie Tennis Center couldn't have been blamed for expecting to see a down-to-the-wire finish between No. 9 Northwestern and 21st-ranked Iowa. But it was a completely different story in singles where the Wildcats swept six matches in straight sets to post a 7-0 victory Saturday in Evanston.
NU and Iowa split convincing wins at the first and third doubles spots, but Maria Mosolova and Linda Abu Mushrefova broke a 4-4 tie at No. 2 en route to an important 8-5 win that secured the doubles point for the 'Cats.
"I thought that was a really nice doubles win by Maria and Linda that took the pressure off of us in singles," said Northwestern head coach Claire Pollard. "I was happy to see our players making the most of their matches against some good Iowa players in an effort to come out of today better than they were yesterday."
Northwestern secured the first victory of the afternoon with its dominating 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles as Samantha Murray and Kate Turvy coasted past Iowa's Jessica Young and Kelcie Klockenga. Murray and Turvy improved to 10-1 as a tandem this season with the win.
But Iowa leveled the action in doubles with a victory at the No. 1 spot as the 14th-ranked team of Merel Beelen and Sonja Molnar downed NU's No. 21-ranked pairing of Lauren Lui and Elena Chernyakova, 8-3.
That win turned the attention to court two where NU's Abu Mushrefova and Mosolova were in a back-and-forth match with Lynne Poggensee-Wei and Alexis Dorr. Tied at four through eight games, the Wildcats fought to take a 6-5 lead and extended it to 7-5 thanks to some strong play at the net by Abu Mushrefova. Despite trailing 0-40 in its ensuing service game, NU stormed back to force deuce and closed out the match on its second match point to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead entering singles.
After her convincing win at No. 3 doubles, Murray kept things rolling at No. 2 singles as she easily handled Beelen in a 6-0, 6-2 victory to give NU a 2-0 lead. Murray upped her overall season record to 23-10 and improved to 30-4 in her Big Ten dual singles career with one match remaining.
Murray's fellow senior Lauren Lui came back from an early deficit against Poggensee-Wei at No. 2 to take a 6-3 decision in the first set. Poggensee-Wei again got off to a fast start but Lui kept her in her sights, eventually breaking a 4-4 tie en route to winning the set 6-4, clinching the match in the process.
Northwestern's fifth team point came courtesy of Stacey Lee at No. 5 as the sophomore worked efficiently to beat Kelcie Klockenga, 6-2, 6-4, for her 22nd overall singles win of the year. Meanwhile, freshman Kate Turvy came up big with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 4 over Iowa's Jessica Young.
Abu Mushrefova made her fourth straight start at the No. 6 singles spot for Northwestern and raced to a 5-2 advantage in the first, but Iowa's Alexis Dorr battled back to tie the score at five. The NU freshman won the ensuing game to go up 6-5 and closed the set 7-5. She led comfortably throughout the second set, winning it 6-4 for the 12th singles win of her freshman season.
The No. 1 singles match pitted 13th-ranked Mosolova against No. 67 Sonja Molnar, who jumped to a 5-2 lead with a two-break advantage before Mosolova found her stride to even the action at five-all. The high-energy match proceeded to go to a tiebreaker where Mosolova outlasted Molnar 7-2, gaining momentum that she used to then jump to a 4-0 lead in the second against last season's Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Up 5-1 in the second, Mosolova endured another long game before back-to-back errors by Molnar allowed Mosolova to complete the singles sweep for NU.
"Maria battled for us today in both singles and doubles," Pollard said. "She takes everyone's best shot in singles and today she was able to fight it off."
Northwestern will play its last home regular season match tomorrow, Sunday, at 11 a.m. when it hosts No. 60 Minnesota. The contest will take place outdoors (weather permitting) and will be the final home match for NU seniors Lauren Lui and Samantha Murray.
No. 9 Northwestern 7, No. 21 Iowa 0
Singles
1: #13 Maria Mosolova (NU) def. #67 Sonja Molnar (IA), 7-6 (2), 6-1
2: #37 Samantha Murray (NU) def. Merel Beelen (IA), 6-0, 6-2
3: #108 Lauren Lui (NU) def. Lynne Poggensee-Wei (IA), 6-3, 6-4
4: Kate Turvy (NU) def. Jessica Young (IA), 6-1, 6-1
5: Stacey Lee (NU) def. Kelcie Klockenga (IA), 6-2, 6-4
6: Linda Abu Mushrefova (NU) def. Alexis Dorr (IA), 7-5, 6-4
Doubles
1: #14 Beelen/Molnar (IA) def. #21 Chernyakova/Lui (NU), 8-3
2: Abu Mushrefova/Mosolova (NU) def. Poggensee-Wei/Dorr (IA), 8-5
3: Murray/Turvy (NU) def. Klockenga/Young (IA), 8-1
Order of Finish
Singles: (2, 4, 3*, 5, 6, 1)
Doubles: (3, 1, 2*)
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