May 18, 2011
NCAA Championships Round of 16
No. 16 Northwestern (22-7, 9-1 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 Stanford (25-0, 8-0 Pac-10)
Friday, May 20
Taube Family Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif. 8 p.m. CT
MATCH UPDATE: Northwestern's match vs. Stanford will be delayed considerably due to delayed previous matches. Expected start time has been pushed back to approximately 10:45 p.m. CT. Continue to check this page and Twitter for updates from Stanford's Taube Tennis Center.
Tournament Central
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STANFORD, Calif. -- Riding a six-match win streak, Northwestern looks to advance to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals for the fourth time in six years, but there is a cardinal roadblock in the Wildcats' way. On Friday, NU will take to the Taube Tennis Stadium courts as the No. 16 seed against a No. 1-seeded Stanford squad looking to defend its 2010 national championship.
Play between the 'Cats and Cardinal is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. CT Friday. For live stats, live video and up-to-date brackets throughout the tournament, visit Stanford's Tournament Central website. A victory by Northwestern on Friday would send NU into a quarterfinal match at 9 p.m. CT Saturday against either eighth-seeded Georgia or ninth-seeded California.
The last time Northwestern was in Stanford, the unseeded doubles tandem of Alexis Prousis and Cristelle Grier won the 2006 NCAA Doubles National Championship, defeating Fresno State's seventh-ranked doubles team of Katharina Winterhalter and Lucia Sainz, 6-4, 6-1, in the final.
Northwestern also had a landmark year as a team during its most recent trip to Stanford, upsetting No. 6 Georgia Tech in the round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time under Claire Pollard and the first time overall since 1987.
Scouting the Cardinal
Stanford enters the round of 16 as the No. 1 seed and the only unbeaten team in Division I at 25-0. The Cardinal, who are hosting this year's NCAA Championships, are the defending national champions and have won 44 in a row - a streak that dates back to February of 2010. In that time, they have only surrendered more than one team point in 12 times, six of which have come this year.
Earlier this season, Stanford bested No. 8 Michigan, No. 4 North Carolina and No. 2 Florida en route to its first ITA National Team Indoor Championship since 2006. The senior trio of Hilary Barte, Carolyn McVeigh and Jennifer Yen have contributed a combined 37-7 dual singles record with their experience. However, freshmen classmates Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs have stolen the show for Stanford, combining to go 42-0 in dual singles play, with both floating around the middle of the lineup. With the help of the freshmen, the Cardinal are 63-3 at Nos. 3, 4 and 5.
Even with all of the successes of both programs, Northwestern and Stanford have only met four times before, and just once in the NCAA Championship. Stanford has won each previous meeting, most recently in 2000 during Claire Pollard's second season at the helm of Northwestern. The two met in the round of 16 in Malibu, Calif., and Stanford came away with a 5-2 win to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Road to Stanford
For the 11th-straight season, Northwestern hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships, once again sweeping its first two opponents. On Friday, the Wildcats opened their tournament against Summit League Champions IPFW and, after breezing through the round of doubles, finished off the Mastodons in singles to put the match away early. Sophomore Linda Abu Mushrefova notched the clinching point for NU when she defeated Yuka Kobayashi, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 5 singles.
Northwestern then faced a familiar foe in Notre Dame in the second round after the Irish beat Fresno State on Friday. After securing the doubles point for the 22nd time in 29 matches this season, Northwestern took the first three singles wins off the court for in a tough 4-0 victory. In a second-set tiebreaker, junior Stacey Lee clinched the second-round win for NU with her 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory over Britney Sanders. Tenth-ranked Maria Mosolova defeated No. 5 Kristy Frilling for the second time in just over a month, giving the Big East Player of the Year only her fourth loss this year. With two victories each Lee and sophomore Kate Turvy were the only Wildcats to finish and win both singles matches on the weekend.
Twenty-Somethings
With its three victories at the Big Ten Tournament and two in the NCAA Championships, Northwestern raised its season win total to 22, marking the eighth straight year NU has reached that plateau. In her 13 seasons in Evanston, Pollard's squads have reached 20 wins 11 times and won 19 matches the other two years, setting a program best with 29 victories in 2008. Before Pollard's arrival at Northwestern in the fall of 1998, the 'Cats had not topped 20 wins since the 1986-87 season.
'Cats Qualify for Individual Championships
Following the conclusion of the team championship on Tuesday, May 24, the Taube Family Tennis Center in Stanford will be the site of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships through May 30. Senior Maria Mosolova is among those in the singles field of 64 while freshman Belinda Niu was tabbed as the No. 8 alternate for the Championships. Mosolova is ranked as a 9-16 seed in the singles draw and is making her striving to become the second NU player to finish her career as a four-time singles All-American.
Sophomore Linda Abu Mushrefova and freshman Nida Hamilton were selected as one of 32 doubles teams, the first career selection for both 'Cats. Last fall, Abu Mushrefova and Hamilton became the first Northwestern doubles team since 2005 to win the ITA Midwest Regional Doubles title.
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