Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Indiana
'Cats Put Away Hoosiers 6-1
3/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 28, 2004
Northwestern-Indiana results
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EVANSTON, Ill.--Even with some strong gusts, Northwestern's sixth-ranked women's tennis team had little difficulty in its first outdoor home match of the season, blowing past Indiana 6-1 at Vandy Christie Tennis Center.
"Playing last week in Miami in similar conditions helped us incredibly," said head coach Claire Pollard. "I give credit to Indiana for playing well in the wind, but I think we just ended up overpowering them across the board."
With the temperature surprisingly reaching 71 degrees, NU (12-3, 2-0 Big Ten) warmed up quickly by earning the doubles point. First, Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) edged Linda Tran and Laura McGaffigan 8-6 at No. 2 to tie doubles at one match apiece. Then, second-ranked Cristelle Grier (Surrey, England/Epsom) and Jessica Rush (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School), down 3-1, rallied to take an 8-4 decision from Dora Vastag and Sarah Batty at No. 1 for the point.
No. 3 Grier and No. 38 Rush then went on to capture the first two singles points for Northwestern, as the former crushed Vastag 6-1, 6-1, while the latter cruised past Tran 6-2, 6-2.
The clinching match for the 'Cats came at No. 3, where Prousis outlasted Batty 6-4, 0-6, 6-2. That victory improved the freshman's overall record to 20-6, making her the third person on the team to reach the 20-win plateau.
Peisel and Connie Chiang (Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh West) closed out the match against the Hoosiers (9-6, 1-1), winning 7-5, 7-5 at No. 4 and 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (9-7) at No. 6, respectively.
"I thought it was a great college tennis match," said Pollard. "It was a little harder for us to play our aggressive style outdoors in the wind, but we eventually adjusted quite well."
The Wildcats hit the road for their next matches, taking on Purdue at noon (CT) April 3 in West Lafayette, Ind. and Illinois at 11 a.m. April 4 in Champaign, Ill.
No. 6 Northwestern 6, No. 32 Indiana 1
Singles
No. 1 -- #3 Cristelle Grier (NU) def. #39 Dora Vastag, 6-1, 6-1
No. 2 -- #38 Jessica Rush (NU) def. Linda Tran, 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 -- Alexis Prousis (NU) def. Sarah Batty, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2
No. 4 -- Jamie Peisel (NU) def. Laura McGaffigan, 7-5, 7-5
No. 5 -- Karie Schlukebir (IU) def. Ruth Barnes, 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 -- Connie Chiang (NU) def. Cecile Perton, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (9-7)
Doubles
No. 1 -- #2 Rush/Grier (NU) def. Batty/Vastag, 8-4
No. 2 -- Prousis/Peisel (NU) def. Tran/McGaffigan, 8-6
No. 3 -- Schlukebir/Perton (IU) def. Andrea Yung/Barnes, 8-4
