Northwestern University Athletics
11th-Seeded 'Cats Set to Resume Play at NCAA Championships
5/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
2006 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships Notes
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May 17, 2006
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Northwestern's ninth-ranked women's tennis team is set to take the court once again this season -- this time as one of the 16 teams still alive in the 2006 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships. The Wildcats' march toward a national title continues at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 18 as they face sixth-seeded Georgia Tech at Stanford University's Taube Tennis Center. Live scoring and webcasts for each match are available throughout the tournament at .
Northwestern (23-4, 13-0) enters Thursday's match after winning both of its regional matches last weekend in Evanston. NU took a 4-0 win over Illinois-Chicago before beating conference-foe Purdue for the third time this season.
The Wildcats enter Thursday's match with three singles players and a doubles team ranked in the most recent (May 1) ITA Poll:
• Cristelle Grier - No. 11
• Alexis Prousis - No. 35
• Georgia Rose - No. 45
• Grier/Prousis - No. 13
Northwestern has won its last 10 matches dating back to April 8 and has rolled through postseason competition with relative ease -- the 'Cats have outscored opponents 20-4 through the Big Ten Championship and NCAA Regional Championship. Should the Wildcats win Thursday's match, they are slated to face either 14th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth or third-seeded Southern California at 3 p.m. Friday, May 19.
Northwestern, which has advanced to the tournament's round of 16 in five of the last six years, looks to make it to the round of eight for the first time during head coach Claire Pollard's tenure.
In this season's regular-season meeting with Georgia Tech (23-5, 9-2), Northwestern came away with a 4-3 victory over the then-third-ranked Yellow Jackets.
In that meeting, the Wildcats took an early 1-0 lead after taking doubles wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots.
Georgia Tech then took a 2-1 lead with two-straight singles wins, but senior Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) tied the score with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over then-No. 60 Kelly Anderson.
Then-No. 6 Kristi Miller gave Georgia Tech a 3-2 lead with a win over Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) in a tight match at No. 1, but freshman Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) knotted the score once again with a three-set decision over then-No. 74 Lyndsay Shosho.
With the score tied at 3-3, it all came down to No. 6 singles, where freshman Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) battled Christy Striplin to a third set. There, Striplin retired due to injury and the Wildcats took the win.
Georgia Tech, winners of its last seven matches, boasts five players ranked in singles, led by the top-ranked Miller. Shosho is ranked No. 63 while Alison Silverio is tabbed No. 65 and Tarryn Rudman is ranked No. 96. Kelly Anderson rounds out the ranked Yellow Jackets at No. 110.
In doubles, Georgia Tech's doubles team of Shosho and Miller is ranked at No. 10.
ESPN2 will provide tape delay programming of the team championship round, with the women's title match airing on May 30 and the men's title match airing on May 31.
