April 29, 2010
No. 5 Northwestern (18-6, 9-1 Big Ten) vs. No. 35 Ohio State (17-6, 5-5) or Michigan State (7-16, 1-9)
Friday, April 30
Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex
Iowa City, Iowa -- 2 p.m. -- Live Stats
2010 Northwestern Dual Statistics
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Whether judged over the long run or in the very recent past, there is no denying Northwestern's dominance at the annual Big Ten Tournament: the Wildcats have won the last 11 conference tournaments and have not so much as surrendered a point to an opponent at the event since 2007. But this year's fifth-ranked squad arrives in Iowa City this weekend as hungry as ever to win a title and will begin its quest Friday against the winner of a first-round match between Ohio State and Michigan State.
The Wildcats, who finished the regular season with a 9-1 league record, are the tournament's No. 2 seed behind top-seeded Michigan, which completed the regular season unbeaten. NU's only conference loss came on April 3 to the Wolverines in a 4-3 decision in Evanston.
Northwestern and Michigan have met in the tournament final each of the past five seasons with NU winning on all five occasions. The `Cats have swept the Wolverines 4-0 at the Big Ten Tournament three consecutive years.
A Look Back
Several Northwestern players put together impressive streaks in singles this season,
with Lauren Lui leading the way with a team-best 14-match winning streak from
Jan. 17-March 13. Sophomore Stacey Lee, meanwhile, won 10 matches in a row
over the same time span but did so without ever losing a set. Both Lui and Lee were
unbeaten in the Big Ten dual campaign entering the final regular season match at
Ohio State, but each lost their respective singles matches during NU's 5-2 defeat of
the Buckeyes.
NU's Place in History
Michigan's perfect 10-0 Big Ten season meant that Northwestern's run of 11 straight
Big Ten titles came to an end this year (note: in 2009, the conference began naming
the regular season winner the Big Ten champion rather than the winner of the
conference tournament). But that incredible streak, which included 81 consecutive
wins against Big Ten opponents, remains as the second-longest streak of
championships in the history of Big Ten women's sports behind only the 12 straight
titles won by Michigan swimming and diving in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Following a 9-1 conference season in 2010, head coach Claire Pollard now owns a career mark of 113-7 in regular season Big Ten dual matches.
'Cats in the Rankings
SINGLES
Maria Mosolova (27-12, 17-6 dual): #13
Samantha Murray (26-10, 15-7 dual): #39
Lauren Lui (27-11, 19-3 dual): #116
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