Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
New Mexico
Wildcats Hang on to Beat the Lobos
1/31/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 31, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill.--After a slow start, Northwestern's eighth-ranked women's tennis team still was able to pull off a 4-3 win against No. 52 New Mexico at Combe Tennis Center.
NU struggled a bit during its double matches, losing two out of the three games. While Northwestern's top-ranked duo of Cristelle Grier (Surrey, England/Putney) and Jessica Rush (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School) remained perfect this season (3-0) in edging Sandy Lukowski and Maja Kovacek 8-6, the other two doubles teams lost.
"We fell apart during the doubles," said head coach Claire Pollard. "I thought we could have done a better job staying composed."
NU battled back during its singles matches. Ruth Barnes (Cambridge, England/Hills Road Sixth Form College), trailing 4-1 in the first set, came back to win 6-4, 6-3. Fourth-ranked Grier made fast work of Iva Gersic, winning 6-1, 6-3 while 36th-ranked Rush added a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
With a 3-3 tie, Jamie Peisel's (Savannah, Georgia, Savannah Country Day) match against Sandy Lukowski became the decisive one. Peisel persevered, winning 7-6 (10-8), 7-5, to give Northwestern the hard-earned win over the Lobos (1-1).
"Our focus was not as good as it could have been," said Pollard. "We have a huge weekend next weekend."
The win makes NU 3-0 heading into the ITA Team Indoor Championship Feb. 5-8 in Madison, Wis.
No. 8 Northwestern 4, No. 52 New Mexico 3
Singles
No. 1 -- #4 Cristelle Grier (NU) def. #83 Iva Gersic, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 -- #36 Jessica Rush (NU) def. #99 Maja Kovacek, 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 -- Jamie Peisel (NU)def. Sandy Lukowski, 7-6 (10-8), 7-5
No. 4 -- Tiffany Robertson (NM) def. Alexis Prousis, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 - Tjasa Suvak (NM) def. Andrea Yung, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5
No. 6 -- Ruth Barnes (NU) def. Maria Ruiz-Fabrega, 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 -- #1 Grier/Rush (NU) def. Lukowski/Kovacek, 8-6
No. 2 -- Gersic/Ruiz-Fabrega (NM) def. Prousis/Barnes, 8-6
No. 3 -- Heidbrink/Robertson (NM) def. Yung/Chang, 8-5
