Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan
Wildcats Waste Wolverines, 5-2
3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 26, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - A trio of wild doubles wins and four singles victories improved No. 2 Northwestern to 12-2 overall Saturday afternoon, as the Wildcats defeated No. 39 Michigan, 5-2. Northwestern remains a perfect 2-0 in the Big Ten, while the Wolverines drop to 6-7 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
"We knew Michigan would be tough," Alexis Prousis said. "We barely beat them in both our matches last year, so we knew today would be a battle."
Early on in the doubles point, it was clear Northwestern would indeed have its hands full.
Michigan's Michelle DaCosta and Kara Delicata jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead over junior Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) and freshman Audra Cohen (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) -- the nation's No. 1 doubles tandem. Cohen and Grier just could not get anything going, and before they knew it, they were in a deep 7-3 hole staring match point in the face. Backs against the wall, they came out swinging.
The duo denied the Wolverines the match by bringing the 11th game to a deuce and eventually broke Michigan's serve to cut the score to 7-4.
Cohen then served to 7-5 and a power-slam from Grier in the 13th game broke the Wolverines again, closing the gap to 7-6. Grier then took the reins and served a perfect game to knot it at 7-7, and they grabbed their first lead of the day by breaking Michigan a third-straight time. Cohen served out a perfect game to complete the duo's comeback and preserve their eight-match winning streak.
Prousis and senior Kristi Roemer (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) -- ranked 29th in the nation -- played a suffocatingly close match at No. 2 doubles. Their battle against Michigan's Rutherford and Shafner inched along, as the squads endured eight ties - one at each point. In the tiebreaker, Roemer executed an exquisite drop shot to give NU a slight 4-2 edge. They would go on to win 9-8 (5) -- their fourth-straight win.
Junior Jamie Peisel and graduate student Valerie Vladea completed the sweep with a 8-5 win at No. 3 -- their fourth win in their last five.
Northwestern has mopped up all three doubles matches five times this season (vs. DePaul (1/19), at Texas A&M (1/29), at Kentucky (1/30), at Wisconsin (2/13) and vs. Michigan (3/26)).
In singles action, Prousis continued her hot play by finishing first, enjoying an easy 6-2, 6-1 over Delicata at No. 3. The Lake Forest, Ill. native has won her last five matches.
Not to be outdone in the winning streak department, Grier notched her fifth-straight with a 6-1, 6-2 mark over Exon at No. 2. Grier holds a team-best 12-2 dual record.
Cohen was gunning to end a two-match losing streak and got off to slow start against DaCosta. Down 5-4 in the first set, Cohen went to her bag and grabbed a new racket. Whatever kind of racket it was, it worked. She claimed the next seven-straight games, and went on for the overall 7-5, 6-2 win.
After dropping a match at California mid-week, Vladea put a notch in the win column by easily defeating Rutherford 6-2, 6-0. She has won six of her last seven.
The Wildcats are back in action at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 27 against Michigan State in Combe Tennis Center.
Northwestern 5, Michigan 2
Doubles
No. 1 - #1 Cohen/Grier (NU) def. #13 DaCosta/Delicata (UM), 9-7
No. 2 - #29 Prousis/Roemer (NU) def. Rutherford/Shafner (UM), 9-8 (5)
No. 3 - Peisel/Vladea (NU) def. Exon/Streifler (UM), 8-5
Singles
No. 1 - #3 Audra Cohen (NU) def. #50 Michelle DaCosta (UM), 7-5, 6-2
No. 2 - #13 Cristelle Grier (NU) def. Elizabeth Exon (UM), 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 - #64 Alexis Prousis (NU) def. Kara Delicata (UM), 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 - Valerie Vladea (NU) def. Leanne Rutherford (UM), 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 - Debra Streifler (UM) def. Jamie Peisel (NU), 6-3, 7-5
No. 6 - Nina Yaftali (UM) def. Feriel Esseghir (NU), 6-0, 6-0
Order of finish for doubles: 3, 1, 2
Order of finish for singles: 3, 6, 4, *2, 5, 1
* denotes clincher
