April 10, 2012
PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- For the second time this season, Northwestern junior Kate Turvy has been honored as the Big Ten Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday.
Turvy was instrumental in helping Northwestern secure three important victories away from home last week. On Wednesday, April 4 the junior sparked the 'Cats to a 4-3 comeback win at No. 18 Notre Dame. Though she fell in doubles play that afternoon, Turvy rebounded with a solid win at the No. 1 singles position over 54th-ranked Shannon Mathews, 6-3, 6-2.
Saturday, Turvy and her teammates blanked the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing, Mich., 7-0. Similarly, the Ohio, native was nearly flawless on the afternoon. Turvy partnered with Belinda Niu to win in No. 1 doubles over the Spartans, 8-0, and in singles play, she held Olga Chernova off the scoreboard with a quick straight-set win, 6-0, 6-0.
The team's road trip reached its conclusion with an important tilt against the 15th-ranked Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Sunday. After helping the Wildcats win the doubles point with another triumph alongside Niu, Turvy took down 10th-ranked Emina Bektas of the maize and blue in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. The victory gave Northwestern the lead for good on the day at 2-1 in a match that it would go on to win, 4-3.
Tuesday marks the second time this season and the second time in her career that Turvy has been named Big Ten Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week. The first occurrence came on January 24 of this season after Turvy had beaten No. 24 Jackie Wu of Vanderbilt in the season-opening match.
Turvy, who is currently ranked 21st in the latest Campbell/ITA singles poll, leads the team 14 wins in singles play this spring, while she and Niu trump all pairs with 11 wins in the doubles format. Turvy has won five straight singles matches and nine of her last 10 overall. The top-ranked player in NU's lineup has wins over seven nationally-ranked foes in 2012.
The Wildcats return home after a lengthy five-match road trip on Saturday, April 14 when they will host Penn State at 11 a.m. Northwestern will also host Ohio State this weekend with that match scheduled to begin Sunday, April 15 at 11 a.m.
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