Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois
Wildcats Improve to 12-1 With 6-1 Victory Over Illini
3/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern appeared right at home against in-state foe Illinois on Friday night, defeating the 33rd-ranked Illini by a 6-1 margin at Combe Tennis Center. The top-ranked Wildcats were in control from start to finish, posting five straight-sets singles wins to hand Illinois just its third loss of the season.
The Wildcats improved to 12-1 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten entering Saturday's contest against Indiana in Evanston.
Using the same singles lineup it has in the past two dual matches, Northwestern received a dominant performance at No. 1 singles by second-ranked Maria Mosolova, who sped to a 6-0, 6-2 victory against No. 86 Leigh Finnegan of Illinois. Mosolova sandwiched a pair of breaks around a break by Finnegan to close out the match in the final three games. The win was Mosolova's 24th of the year and her 18th against a ranked opponent.
Senior Nazlie Ghazal picked up the 32nd conference dual win of her career and remained unbeaten (4-0) at the No. 4 singles spot with a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Marisa Lambropoulos. Meanwhile, freshman Stacey Lee continued to flourish at the sixth singles position, defeating Shivani Dave of Illinois to up her overall singles record to 14-1. The freshman is 4-0 in dual matches for the Wildcats.
Also efficient in her singles performance was junior Lauren Lui, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, who knocked off Chelcie Abajian, 6-0, 6-4. With the second set tied at four, Lui broke Abajian's serve in the ninth game and finished off her service game with a well-placed overhead winner, clinching the match for Northwestern in the process.
The final match on the courts was the No. 2 match between junior Samantha Murray and Illinois' Megan Fudge. After Fudge took the first set 6-4, she managed to go up a break at 4-2 before Murray negated the break difference to tie things at four. Fudge responded to win the ninth game and held off Murray's late charge in the ensuing game to take a point for the Illini.
Earlier in the evening, NU took a 1-0 lead thanks to three convincing wins in doubles action. At the third doubles spot, Murray and Elena Chernyakova led Amy Allin and Annie McCarthy by a 3-1 score when Murray laced a backhand from the baseline down the left side of the court to hold serve and give the 'Cats a 4-1 advantage. Before long, NU managed to break an Illinois service game to go up 5-1 on its way to an 8-3 victory.
No. 22-ranked Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui found themselves in a back-and-forth battle at the first singles match with each duo holding serve for seven consecutive games after the score was tied 2-2. Ahead 6-5, NU led in the 12th game 40-15 before Illinois battled back to gain two ad-points. Lui and Rose did not quit and managed to win the game, but the Illini pair broke Lui's serve in the next game to pull within 7-6. On a third deuce point to decide the match, Illinois landed a crosscourt return out of play, and went long with an attempt at a winner down the middle as NU claimed an 8-6 victory.
The second doubles match appeared as though it would be a test for the Wildcats with each of the first three games reaching multiple deuce points. But NU's Maria Mosolova and Keri Robison won two of those three and did not look back, eventually going up 6-1 and winning 8-1.
NU (12-1) is back in action at 2 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Indiana.
No. 1 Northwestern 6, No. 33 Illinois 1
Singles
No. 1: No. 2 Maria Mosolova (NU) def. No. 86 Leigh Finnegan (ILL), 6-0, 6-2
No. 2: Megan Fudge (ILL) def. No. 36 Samantha Murray (NU), 6-4, 6-4
No. 3: No. 109 Lauren Lui (NU) def. Chelcie Abajian (ILL), 6-0, 6-4
No. 4: Nazlie Ghazal (NU) def. Maria Lambropoulous (ILL, 6-3, 6-1
No. 5: Keri Robison (NU) def. Amy Allin (ILL), 6-4, 6-4
No. 6: Stacey Lee (NU) def. Shivani Davé (ILL), 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1: No. 22 Lui/Rose (NU) def. Finnegan/Abajian (ILL), 8-6
No. 2: No. 42 Mosolova/Robison (NU) def. Fudge/Lambropoulous (ILL), 8-1
No. 3: Chernyakova/Murray (NU) def. Allin/McCarthy (ILL), 8-3
Players Mentioned
