Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
ITA National Indoor Championships
Grier, Rush Make History with Doubles Championship
11/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Nov. 8, 2003
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Simply put, the Northwestern doubles team of Cristelle Grier (Surrey, England/Putney) and Jessica Rush (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School) are unstoppable.
Today, the second-seeded duo made history as the first Big Ten team to win the ITA National Indoor Championships doubles title after they topped UCLA's Jackie Carleton and Lauren Fisher 8-6 in the final.
"I'm just so happy for the Cristelle and Jessica to have won the doubles title," said head coach Claire Pollard. "As a coach, it is a thrill to be a part of something so special. Those two are fun and entertaining to watch."
Grier and Rush, who improve to 13-1 as a pair this season, had earned a bid to the four-day tournament by winning the ITA Midwest Championships doubles title last week.
Earlier in the afternoon, Grier and Rush beat Georgia's No. 3 seed Agata Cioroch and Shadisha Robinson 8-4 in the semifinals, which was a partial rematch of a singles match Grier and Cioroch played in the morning.
In that semifinal singles match, No. 3 seed Grier fell 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (4) to the second-seeded Cioroch, who is the defending singles champion.
"Cristelle was behind the whole match but still hung in there," said Pollard. "Unfortunately, she just could not turn it around. But it shows Cristelle's tremendous class and character to come through and be ready for her doubles match."
Added Pollard: "We will learn from our experience at this tournament and hopefully build off of it. I cannot speak highly enough of Grier and Rush. I am looking forward to seeing great things out of them next year."
After the Badger Invitational concludes tomorrow, the Wildcats will be off until Jan. 17, when they host Eastern Michigan.
