Northwestern University Athletics
No. 9 Northwestern Starts 2007 Friday in Palm Springs
1/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 11, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After a two-month hiatus, the Wildcats return to the court Friday for the three-day National Collegiate Tennis Classic held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Palm Springs, Calif. The NCTC is an individiual tournament that features the "who's who" of women's college tennis. The 'Cats will face opponents from top programs such as USC, Georgia Tech, UCLA and Texas. Northwestern stands at No. 9 in the first ITA National Rankings.
Freshman Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid), ranked 66th nationally in the first ITA rankings, is the 'Cats' only ranked singles player. She posted a 10-2 fall record. Senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and sophomore Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) saw limited singles action in the fall and were not considered for rankings. Prousis was ranked 25th in the fall rankings while Rose was No. 30.
The duo of Rose and Prousis is the nation's 30th-ranked tandem entering 2007. The pair went 6-3 in the fall.
The Wildcats make several appearances in the ITA Midwest regional rankings. Rose is the fourth-ranked singles player and Prousis is at No. 6. Freshmen Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) and Lui are 11th and 18th, respectively. Sophomore Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Keystone National) stands at No. 19 and Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) is at No. 21.
In doubles, Prousis and Rose are the region's third-ranked team. Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) and Murray are No. 5 and Robison and Lui are No. 10.
Action in the 32-player main singles begins Friday at 10 a.m. CT. Play in the 16-team doubles draw gets underway at 5 p.m. CT. Singles and doubles quarterfinals, along with the singles semifinals, will be played Saturday. Doubles semifinals, finals and singles finals will be played Sunday.
