Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Furman
'Cats Pound Paladins, 4-0
2/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 11, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's eighth-ranked women's tennis team ended a long day on a positive note, defeating the Furman Paladins by a score of 4-0 Saturday night at Combe Tennis Center to extend their winning streak to four.
The Wildcats claimed their second dual victory of the day after defeating Alabama 6-1 earlier in the morning.
Northwestern Head Coach Claire Pollard used the match as opportunity to change up her lineup, and it immediately paid dividends.
The partnership of Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) and Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) proved to be an effective one, as the Wildcat duo won the first six games of their match against Furman's Jacqueline Eckert and Natasa Manojlovic en route to a 8-1 victory at No. 3 doubles.
Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) and Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) followed Conill and Rose's lead, breaking the Paladin pair of Marti Morris and Laura Gioia three times early in the match to cruise to an 8-4 victory at No. 1 doubles. The victory gave the 'Cats the doubles point and quick 1-0 lead.
Northwestern completed the doubles sweep when Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) and Feriel Esseghir (Sarasota, Fla./Brickhouse Academy/UCLA) defeated the Paladins' Lauren Osborne and Shannon Moore 8-7 (5). The Wildcat duo rallied from a 3-1 deficit to force a tiebreaker and claim the victory.
The 'Cats gave Furman no opportunity to regroup as they started strong in singles. Prousis gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead with her 6-2, 6-4 victory over Osborne at No. 3 singles.
Rose made it 3-0 with her second victory at No. 1 singles this year, defeating Gioia 6-1, 6-3.
Northwestern would not have to wait long to secure victory, as shortly thereafter Conill came through with the clincher. Conill came through with her first dual-match victory of the season, defeating Manojlovic 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 singles.
Due to the automatic lighting system of Combe Tennis Center, the final three matches had to be abandoned.
With the victory, the 'Cats improve to 4-1 on the year. Northwestern returns to action at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17 when they take on the Harvard Crimson at the Combe Tennis Center.
ResultsDoubles 1. Cristelle Grier/Alexis Prousis (NU) def. Laura Gioia/Marti Morris (Furman) 8-4 2. Jamie Peisel/Feriel Esseghir (NU) def. Lauren Osborne/Shannon Moore (Furman) 8-7 (7-5) 3. Georgia Rose/Alexis Conill (NU) def. Jacqueline Eckert/Natasa Manojlovic (Furman) 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 1*, 2 * denotes doubles-point clincher
Singles 1. Georgia Rose (NU) def. Laura Gioia (Furman) 6-1, 6-3 2. Cristelle Grier (NU) leads Marti Morris (Furman) 6-4, 5-3 (abandoned) 3. Alexis Prousis (NU) def. Lauren Osborne (Furman) 6-2, 6-4 4. Jamie Peisel (NU) leads Shannon Moore (Furman) 6-1, 5-3 5. Feriel Esseghir (NU) leads Bonnie Baird (Furman) 6-1, 5-4 6. Alexis Conill (NU) def. Natasa Manojlovic (Furman) 6-2, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 1, 6* * denotes clincher
