Feb. 20, 2011
Event: ITA National Indoor Team Championship Consolation
Site: Charlottesville, Va. (Boar's Head Tennis Club)
Score: No. 23 Virginia 4, No. 20 Northwestern 0
Records: NU (5-5, 1-0 Big Ten) Virginia (8-1, 0-0 ACC)
Next NU Event: Sat., Feb. 26 vs. North Carolina Evanston 11 a.m.
ITA National Indoor Team Championship -- Tournament Website
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- No. 20 Northwestern ran into a 23rd-ranked Virginia team that has played stellar tennis while hosting the 2011 ITA National Indoor Team Championship this weekend and fell by a 4-0 score in the consolation draw Sunday evening in Charlottesville. NU's No. 1 doubles team of Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton defeated a top-10-ranked opponent for the second time this season, but it wasn't enough to spur the Wildcats on to victory.
After Virginia's 51st-ranked tandem of Maria Fuccillo and Rashmi Teltumbde defeated NU's Elena Chernyakova and Kate Turvy at No. 3 doubles, NU received an impressive victory at the No. 1 spot. Fifteenth-ranked Abu Mushrefova and Hamilton trailed by a considerable margin in the early stages against 10th-ranked Emily Fraser and Hana Tomljanovic, but just as they did against Duke's top-5 ranked team back on Feb. 6, the Wildcats underclassmen had a comeback in them.
Abu Mushrefova and Hamilton took the match 8-6, but it wasn't enough as the Cavs' 67th-ranked Lindsey Hardenbergh and Erin Bierra held off NU's Maria Mosolova and Belinda Niu by the same score at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point.
Following the intermission, Virginia extended its lead in the team score to 2-0 thanks to a two-set victory at No. 5 singles by sophomore Maria Fuccillo over Wildcats freshman Nida Hamilton.
At the No. 6 spot, Linda Abu Mushrefova was off to a slow start down a set and 4-1 in the second to Caryssa Peretz, but the sophomore began to storm back and claimed a 5-4 lead. However, Peretz then managed to break Abu Mushrefova's serve and held to go up 6-5, finally getting one final break of serve to win the match 6-0, 7-5.
Virginia's clinching point came courtesy of Tomljanovic at No. 4, where she topped NU junior Stacey Lee 6-2, 6-3. The Cavs' 54th-ranked Erin Vierra was also closing in on a win No. 3 at nearly the same time, as she broke a 3-3 tie in the second set against No. 98 Kate Turvy by taking the next two games, as the match ended with Vierra up 5-4 in the set.
Northwestern was able to win first sets at both the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions. Senior and 29th-ranked Maria Mosolova continued a strong weekend of play at National Indoors as she downed No. 41 Emily Fraser in the first set, 6-4, and was battling down 3-2 in the second when the match was abandoned.
Playing at No. 2 singles in place of the injured Brittany Wowchuk, Belinda Niu also managed to win her first set over No. 67 Lindsey Hardenbergh, 6-3, and dropped the second by a 6-0 score before UVA's clinching point came in.
Northwestern will return to Evanston next week to continue its challenging nonconference dual slate when it meets No. 4 North Carolina for the second time in a week at 11 a.m. Saturday.
No. 23 Virginia 4, No. 20 Northwestern 0
Singles:
1: #29 Maria Mosolova (NU) vs. #41 Emily Fraser (UVA), 6-3, 3-4, unf.
2: #100 Belinda Niu (NU) vs. #67 Lindsey Hardenbergh (UVA), 6-3, 0-6, unf.
3: #54 Erin Vierra (UVA) vs. #98 Kate Turvy (NU), 6-2, 5-4, unf.
4: Hana Tomljanovic (UVA) def. Stacey Lee (NU), 6-2, 6-3
5: Maria Fuccillo (UVA) def. Nida Hamilton (NU), 6-0, 6-1
6: Caryssa Peretz (UVA) def. Linda Abu Mushrefova (NU), 6-0, 7-5
Doubles:
1: #15 Abu Mushrefova/Hamilton (NU) def. #10 Fraser/Tomljanovic (UVA), 8-6
2: #67 Hardenbergh/Vierra (UVA) def. #58 Mosolova/Niu (NU), 8-6
3: #51 Fuccillo/Teltumbde (UVA) def. Chernyakova/Turvy (NU), 8-5
Order of Finish:
Singles (5, 6, 4*)
Doubles (3, 1, 2*)
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