Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Ohio State
11th-Ranked Wildcats Complete Big Ten Sweep; Shut Out Buckeyes 7-0
4/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 23, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- In its final home match of the 2006 regular season, the 11th-ranked Northwestern women's tennis team dominated Ohio State en route to a 7-0 win at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center. The clean sweep was a fitting farewell to Northwestern's three seniors. The contributions of Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day), Feriel Esseghir (Sarasota, Fla./Brickhouse) and Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) to Northwestern tennis were recognized by head coach Claire Pollard in front of an crowd of over 200 people.
The Wildcats -- who already have claimed the No. 1 seed in next weekend's Big Ten Championships by winning the conference regular-season title -- began the match by sweeping the doubles contests. NU's team of Peisel and Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif/Chaparral) posted the first win, beating Ciara Finucane and Kristin Messmer 8-3 at the No. 3 spot.
The 'Cats then clinched the doubles point when the 10th-ranked team of Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Grier beat Ohio State's Caitlin O'Keefe and Angela DiPastina in the No. 1 doubles match.
Esseghir and Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) earned a win over Julie Blackhouse and Sonia Ruzimovsky, completing the doubles sweep for NU.
As the afternoon progressed the clouds were threatening throughout the singles matches, but Ohio State's rackets were not. Instead, the warm, sunny weather continued, as did Northwestern's hot streak.
In the first two singles matches, No. 42 Rose took down O'Keefe at No. 2 without dropping a point, 6-0, 6-0, while No. 13 Grier celebrated her final career regular-season match at Northwestern with an over-powering 6-1, 6-0 performance against Ruzimovsky at No. 1.
With the win, Rose is just two wins short of Grier's school record of 28-consecutive wins.
Esseghir clinched the match for the 'Cats with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Finucane.
Ghazal made it 5-0 Northwestern as she beat DiPastina at No. 5. She dropped the first set, but rallied and dominated in the tiebreak for a 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (2) victory.
Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) sealed the sweep with a 6-3, 6-4 decision over Julie Voss at No. 6.
With the win, Northwestern finishes the conference slate with a perfect 10-0 record. The Wildcats claimed their sixth Big Ten regular-season title in the past eight seasons last weekend as they topped No. 46 Purdue 6-1 last weekend.
Northwestern returns to action next week as they play in the Big Ten Championships Thursday through Sunday, April 27-30 in Champaign, Ill.
Tennis Match Results Ohio State vs Northwestern Apr 23, 2006 at Evanston, Ill.#11 Northwestern 7, Ohio State 0 Singles competition: 1. Grier, Cristelle (NU) def. Ruzimovsky, Sonia (OSU) 6-1, 6-0 2. Rose, Georgia (NU) def. O'Keefe, Caitlin (OSU) 6-0, 6-0 3. Prousis, Alexis (NU) def. Blackmore, Julie (OSU) 6-2, 5-6, 10-7 4. Esseghir, Feriel (NU) def. Pinucane, Clara (OSU) 6-1, 6-2 5. Ghazal, Nazlie (NU) def. DiPastina, Angela (OSU) 2-6, 6-3, 10-2 6. Conill, Alexis (NU) def. Voss, Julie (OSU) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition: 1. Prousis, Alexis/Grier, Cristelle (NU) def. O'Keefe, Caitlin/DiPastina, Angela (OSU) 8-5 2. Esseghir, Feriel/Rose, Georgia (NU) def. Blackmore, Julie/Ruzimovsky, Sonia (OSU) 8-5 3. Ghazal, Nazlie/Peisel, Jamie (NU) def. Finucane, Clara/Messmer, Kristin (OSU) 8-3
Match Notes: Ohio State 13-11 Northwestern 17-4; National ranking #11 Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,1,4,5,6,3)
Players Mentioned
