Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
NCAA Regionals
Women's Tennis Advances to NCAA Regional Final
5/12/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 12, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - The ninth-ranked Northwestern women's tennis team is one step closer to reaching the NCAA Championships after defeating in-state foe Illinois-Chicago, 4-0, Saturday afternoon at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center.
The Wildcats came out strong in doubles, winning quickly at No. 2 and 3. NU's No. 3 pair of Ruth Barnes and Simona Petrutiu defeated Jacki Farr and Karen Liwanpo, 8-1. Lia Jackson and Jessica Rush stormed out to a 4-0 lead against UIC's No. 2 duo of Kim Harris and Alyson Stalzer en route to an 8-2 win.
In singles action, Marine Piriou cruised to a win at No. 3 (6-0, 6-1) to give the `Cats a 2-0 lead. Next off the court was No. 4 Shannon Duffy, who defeated Harris (6-2, 6-3). Petrutiu clinched the match for NU at No. 5, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to take the first set, 6-4, then handing Stalzer a 6-0 second-set loss to give NU the decisive fourth point.
"We hadn't played in two weeks and looked a little rusty," said head coach Claire Pollard after the match. "This is a sport you need to compete in day in and day out to really be sharp. But we shook it off and got stronger as the day went on. I was very pleased with this win."
Northwestern will face second-seeded Kentucky -- a 4-0 winner over Virginia in Saturday's morning match -- in a battle of Wildcats tomorrow at noon at the Christie Center (in case of inclement weather the match will be played at the Johnson Tennis Center). The winner of Sunday's match will move on to the NCAA Sweet 16 in Stone Mountain, Ga., from May 17-26.
NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship
Regional First Round Match
Saturday, May 12, 2001
#1 Northwestern 4, #4 Illinois-Chicago 0
Vandy Christie Tennis Center (Evanston, Ill.)
Northwestern 4, UIC 0
Singles
Matches listed in order of finish
No. 3 -- Marine Piriou (Northwestern) def. Ayca Gumuscu (UIC) 6-0, 6-1
No. 4 -- Shannon Duffy (Northwestern) def. Kim Harris (UIC) 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 -- Simona Petrutiu (Northwestern) def. Alyson Stalzer (UIC) 6-4, 6-0
No. 1 -- #39 Colleen Cheng (Northwestern) led Jacki Farr (UIC) 6-3, 3-2 (abandoned)
No. 2 -- #60 Lia Jackson (Northwestern) led Nicole Derouin (UIC) 6-2, 3-1 (abandoned)
No. 6 -- Jessica Rush (Northwestern) led Zvjezdana Malesevic (UIC) 6-2, 5-2 (abandoned)
Doubles
No. 3 -- Ruth Barnes/Petrutiu (Northwestern) def. Farr/Karen Liwanpo (UIC) 8-1
No. 2 -- Jackson/Rush (Northwestern) def. Harris/Stalzer (UIC) 8-2
No. 1 -- Derouin/Gumuscu (UIC) led Cheng/Piriou (Northwestern) 4-3 (abandoned)
