Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats to Tangle With Lobos
1/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 29, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill.--Fresh off a road victory against then-No. 8 William & Mary, Northwestern's eighth-ranked women's tennis team (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) will face its second-straight ranked team when it plays host to No. 52 New Mexico at noon Saturday at Combe Tennis Center.
In last weekend's upset of the Tribe, the Wildcats lost only three matches in winning 5-2. The top-ranked doubles pair of Cristelle Grier (Surrey, England/Putney) and Jessica Rush (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School) won its doubles match, and individually they both won at singles.
Andrea Yung (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) also shined, notching a straight-set victory in singles, as well as winning with doubles partner Connie Chiang (Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh West). Together, the junior-senior tandem is 6-1, including 2-0 in dual matches.
"Andrea and Connie have real good chemistry," said head coach Claire Pollard. "They always are very relaxed when they play, which I think helps performance. They are enjoying themselves."
New Mexico (1-0, 0-0 Mountain West) will bring some firepower to Combe Tennis Center with No. 83 Iva Gersic at the helm in singles and the 21st-ranked team of Sandy Lukowski and Maja Kovacek heading the doubles lineup. The trio helped the Lobos sweep Northern Arizona last weekend.
Lukowski and Kovacek had a stellar fall season, going 10-4, winning the Central Region doubles title and earning a berth to the ITA National Indoor Championships. The two won their first match in the tournament before bowing out to eventual winners Grier and Rush in the second round.
"If the rest of New Mexico is as good as its No. 1 doubles team, then we are in for quite a challenge," said Pollard. "(Lukowski and Kovacek) are a great duo, and we will play them and the entire team as hard as we can."
