Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Wildcats Blank Badgers in Conference Opener
3/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 5, 2004
Northwestern-Wisconsin results
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EVANSTON, Ill.--Northwestern's seventh-ranked women's tennis team grabbed its first Big Ten win of the season with authority.
Three days after blanking Marquette 7-0, the Wildcats repeated that performance in knocking out No. 73 Wisconsin 7-0 at Combe Tennis Center.
"I was concerned going into the match that we would overlook it and think instead about our (two-week) rest period," said head coach Claire Pollard, whose team improved to 36-15 all-time against the Badgers. "But we battled well and came through in all our matches."
NU (10-3, 1-0 Big Ten) quickly earned the doubles point with 8-1 decisions at Nos. 2 and 3. Andrea Yung (San Marino, Calif./San Marino) and Ruth Barnes (Cambridge, England/Hills Road Sixth Form College) led by taking down Kaylan Caiati and Lexi Goldin at No. 2, then Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) ensued with their victory over Shana McElroy and Teresa Gonzaga at No. 2.
Third-ranked Jessica Rush (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School) and Cristelle Grier (Surrey, England/Epsom), who were at one point down 4-3 to Lindsay Martin and Katie McGaffigan, grinded it out to pull off an 8-5 win and pick up the sweep for the 'Cats.
Rush and Grier then went on to finish first in singles, as the former cruised past McElroy 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, while the latter chipped in a 6-2, 6-4 win over 52nd-ranked McGaffigan at No. 1. Both NU players now have at least 20 wins this year (Grier 22, Rush 20).
The clinching point for Northwestern came at No. 6, where Connie Chiang (Oshkosh, Wis./Oshkosh West) gathered a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Goldin. The next two points for NU were produced by Prousis and Peisel, who won 7-5, 7-5 at No. 3 and 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4, respectively.
Barnes outlasted Goldin 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (7) at No. 5 to complete the nine-match sweep against Wisconsin (6-7, 0-1).
"The Badgers have been playing well, so I was pleased with this match," said Pollard. "It feels great to go into the break with a win, because it makes that stretch fun."
The Wildcats will take a two-week break from competition until their dual match against DePaul, which will take place at 11 a.m. (CT) March 23 in Miami, Fla.
No. 7 Northwestern 7, No. 73 Wisconsin 0
Singles
No. 1 -- #3 Cristelle Grier (NU) def. #52 Katie McGaffigan (UW), 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 -- #67 Jessica Rush (NU) def. Shana McElroy (UW), 6-2, 6-0
No. 3 -- Alexis Prousis (NU) def. Lindsay Martin (UW), 7-5, 7-5
No. 4 -- Jamie Peisel (NU) def. Teresa Gonzaga (UW), 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 -- Ruth Barnes (NU) def. Kaylan Caiati (UW), W, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (7)
No. 6 -- Connie Chiang (NU) def. Lexi Goldin (UW), 7-5, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 -- #3 Grier/Rush (NU) def. Martin/McGaffigan (UW), 8-5
No. 2 -- Prousis/Peisel (NU) def. McElroy/Gonzaga (UW), 8-1
No. 3 -- Yung/Barnes (NU) def. Caiati/Goldin (UW), 8-1
