Northwestern University Athletics
NU to Vie in ITA National Team Indoor Championship
2/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 3, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill.--Northwestern's eighth-ranked women's tennis team (3-0) will make its sixth appearance this week at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship, held Thursday through Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wis.
NU earned the seventh seed and is scheduled to play unseeded Kentucky (6-1), ranked 13th, at 9 a.m. Thursday. The winner will face either second-seeded Georgia or Harvard at 3 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals.
"It is a real big honor to be a part of the tournament," said head coach Claire Pollard. "The event is a highlight for us, because we get exposed to the nation's best teams.
"Our immediate goal is to play a really good first match, and if that gets us through (the first round), we will be ecstatic."
At the 2003 tournament, the Wildcats fell to Southern California 4-3 in the first round before beating Wake Forest 6-1 and Tennessee 4-3 in the consolation round. NU has made it past the first round only once, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2001.
Northwestern will be led by No. 4 Cristelle Grier (Surrey, England/Putney) and No. 36 Jessica Rush (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School), who have records of 14-3 and 13-2, respectively. Together, the sophomore and senior form the top-ranked doubles tandem in the nation and carry a 16-1 record.
Last season, Kentucky defeated Northwestern 4-3 in the teams' dual match in Lexington, Ky. Although she did not play last year against NU, No. 23 Aibika Kalsarieva heads the 2004 singles lineup of the Southeastern Conference's Wildcats. The junior holds a 22-5 record, which includes winning the USTA National Tennis Center College Tennis Invite in October.
"Kentucky is well-coached and will make us work," said Pollard. "This year's match, though, will be different from last year's, since they have completely different players in the lineup."
The other seeded teams are Stanford (1), California (3), Vanderbilt (4), Washington (5), Southern California (6) and North Carolina (8). Duke beat Florida 4-3 to take last year's title; both teams will not compete this weekend.
Semifinal action will take place on Saturday, and the championship will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday. Meanwhile, consolation play will run Friday and Saturday.
