Northwestern
Michigan
Wildcats Sweep Wolverines, 7-0
3/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 26, 2006
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- For the third-straight match, Northwestern's fourth-ranked women's tennis team rolled to a 7-0 shutout -- this time it was over 27th-ranked Michigan Sunday at the Varsity Tennis Center. The Wildcats took two of three doubles matches then dropped only two sets in singles en route to their fifth total shutout of the season.
Feriel Esseghir (Sarasota, Fla./Brickhouse Academy) and Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) started things out right for the 'Cats when they topped Michigan's team of Lindsey Howard and Nina Yaftali at No. 2 doubles 8-5.
After Kara Delicata and Debra Streifler topped NU's seventh-ranked doubles team of Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) and Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) 9-8 (3), Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) and Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) clinched the doubles point for the Wildcats by beating the Wolverines' Allie Shafner and Chisako Sugiyama 8-5 at No. 3 doubles. With the win, Peisel and Ghazal tallied their ninth win in 10 tries.
Northwestern began the singles portion of the match by taking four-straight singles wins in straight sets.
No. 36 Rose gave Northwestern a 2-0 lead when she won her team-best 18th-consecutive singles match. She beat Yaftali 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and improved to 14-0 in dual matches this season with the win.
The Wildcats' 26th-ranked Prousis extended Northwestern's lead to 3-0 by beating Elizabeth Exon 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
Ghazal then clinched the match for the Wildcats by recording a win at the No. 6 singles spot. She needed an extra game in the second set, but Ghazal outlasted Shafner for the 6-2, 7-5 win.
With the match already in hand, Esseghir kept the winning ways alive for NU when she beat Sugiyama 7-5, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.
After dropping her first set to Streifler, Peisel roared back to take the next two and the win at No. 4 singles. She took the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
No. 9 Grier then completed the singles sweep and the shutout for Northwestern with a win at No. 1 singles. She dropped her first set, but came back to beat Michigan's 97th-ranked Delicata 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (6).
With the win, Northwestern improves to 11-3 this season, 3-0 in the Big Ten.
Northwestern resumes play by hosting Indiana at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 1 at the Combe Tennis Center.
Singles No. 1 -- #9 Cristelle Grier (NU) d. #97 Kara Delicata, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0(6) No. 2 -- #36 Georgia Rose (NU) d. Nina Yaftali, 6-1, 6-1 No. 3 -- #26 Alexis Prousis (NU) d. Elizabeth Exon, 6-1, 6-3 No. 4 -- Jamie Peisel (NU) d. Debra Streifler, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 No. 5 -- Feriel Esseghir (NU) d. Chisako Sugiyama, 7-5, 6-2 No. 6 -- Nazlie Ghazal (NU) d. Allie Shafner, 6-2, 7-5Doubles No. 1 -- Delicata/Streifler (U-M) d. #7 Grier/Prousis, 9-8(3) No. 2 -- Esseghir/Rose (NU) d. Lindsey Howard/Yaftali, 8-5 No. 3 -- Ghazal/Peisel (NU) d. Shafner/Sugiyama, 8-5
Order of Completion: Doubles 2-1-3, Singles 2-3-6-5-4-1
Players Mentioned
