April 15, 2007

Results

Click Here to watch the 'Cats in action.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Playing their third match in three days, the ninth-ranked Wildcats were pushed by the Iowa Hawkeyes Sunday at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center, but used a thrilling doubles win by Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Keystone National) and Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) at No. 1 and solid singles performances to top 57th-ranked Iowa, 5-2.

The Wildcats improve to 16-4, 8-0 in the Big Ten. Iowa drops to 9-9 overall, 5-3 in conference.

During the break between doubles and singles, head coach Claire Pollard and the Wildcats honored senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest). Prousis, a two-time All-Big Ten selection, 2006 NCAA Doubles Champion and 2006 doubles All-American, played her last regular season match in Evanston.

"I can't even put into words how much Alexis has meant to this program," Pollard said. "She is the ultimate team player. She puts Northwestern Tennis above individual accomplishments and we're really going to miss her."

The Wildcats went to the same teams as Saturday with sophomore Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) out of the lineup and Iowa made the 'Cats claw for the doubles point.

The two teams split the No. 2 and No. 3 matches and an absolute thriller at No. 1 decided the critcal first point of the dual. The match between Iowa's Jacqueline Lee and Milica Veselinovic and Robison and Lui lasted nearly 1 hour and 30 minutes.

The Wildcats broke to lead 2-1, but the Hawkeyes came back to take a 5-3 lead with a break. NU tied the match at 5-5 and after back-to-back breaks, the score was knotted at six apiece.

Iowa held serve to take a 7-6 lead and Robison was serving to keep the Wildcats alive. Robison and Lui held off four match points and played 10 deuce points in the excitement-filled game.

Lui notched severall volley winners and Robison dug into her bag of tricks for a spectacular backhand slice winner from the service line. NU took the game to tie the score at 7-7, broke the Hawkeyes for 8-7 and Lui held her serve to give the Wildcats the doubles point with a 9-7 victory.

"Keri and Lauren showed a lot of poise," Pollard said. "They fought to give us a much-needed doubles point."

The No. 3 team of Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) and Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England) had little trouble with Iowa's Kayla Berry and Kelcie Klockenga, downing the Hawkeyes, 8-2. The Wildcats broke for 2-0 and held on for the win.

Iowa took the No. 2 doubles match with Merel Beelen and Hillary Mintz topping Prousis and Suzie Matzenauer (Tacoma, Wash./Bellarmine), 8-3.

The 'Cats opened up a 2-0 lead when Robison carried the momentum of her doubles win into her No. 4 singles match and topped Berry in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. The Hawkeyes closed to 2-1 with Veselinovic's 6-2, 6-1 win over Prousis at No. 2.

At No. 6, Matzenauer cruised to a 6-0, 6-4 win over Klockenga, but on the final three courts, Iowa was beginning to put pressure on the ninth-ranked Wildcats.

Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) at No. 5, Lui at No. 4 and Murray at No. 1 had all captured first sets, but Iowa was putting the heat on in all three second sets. While Ghazal was fighting through a second set, the other two Wildcats fell in ther second frames and were playing decisive third sets with the match still up for grabs.

Ghazal registered a critical break to take a 5-4 lead in the second set in a game that saw several deuce points. The sophomore held on to clinch the dual for the Wildcats with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 5.

Lui opened up a 5-2 lead on Mintz in her third set after splitting the first two stanzas 6-0 and 6-4. She could not convert on her chance to serve for the match, but ultimately took the third set, 6-4.

Murray took her first set, 6-3, but Lee fired back with a 6-4 win in the second. The two stayed on serve until 2-2 and then exchanged breaks for 3-3. Lee managed to take the third set from the freshman, 6-4.

The 'Cats return to action at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Ohio State. The match was originally scheduled for April 7, but was rescheduled due to travel complications.

RALLY WITH THE 'CATS

2011-12 Women's Tennis Viewbook

Join the Wildcats' Social Network!

The Team

Records/Almanac

2012 High School Night

2011 NCAA Regional Championship Tournament Central

Northwestern Tennis Camps

Contact The Coaches

Combe Indoor Tennis Center

Vandy Christie Tennis Center