Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
NCAA Finals (at Georgia)
Wildcat Duo Advances to Second Round of NCAA Doubles Tournament
5/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 24, 2007
ATHENS, Ga. -- Northwestern's ninth-ranked duo of sophomore Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) and senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) surrendered its first set of the NCAA Championships, but rallied to win its first-round match Thursday over Georgia Tech's Alison Silverio and Amanda Craddock, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Prousis and Rose return to doubles action at 5 p.m. CT on Friday. Rose will play her round of 16 singles match against Stanford's Lindsay Burdette on at 9 a.m. CT Friday.
For tournament information, schedules and brackets, as well as links to live scoring and live video, visit the University of Georgia Tournament Information Center.
The Wildcat tandem returned to the doubles court for the first time since the 'Cats dual against UCLA in the NCAA round of 16 last Friday and showed some early rust. Georgia Tech held serve without surrendering a point in the first game to take a 1-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of serving errors in the second game to break NU and take an early 2-0 lead.
The teams held serve for the rest of the frame as Georgia Tech took the first set, 6-3.
NU came out like a different team in the second set, taking a 1-0 lead behind Prousis' serve in the first game. The 'Cats faced a break point at 15-40, but rallied back to deuce on a Yellow Jacket unforced error. After Georgia Tech failed to convert on their second break point, the 'Cats used a Rose overhead smash to take the first game of the set.
After the Yellow Jackets held serve to tie the set at 1-1, NU held behind Rose and broke to take a 3-1 lead. The 'Cats held for 4-1 and opened up a 5-1 advantage with another break. In that game, the Wildcats used volley winners by Prousis and several Tech unforced errors on dangerous Wildcat lobs to get the break.
Rose needed only one set point opportunity to give the Wildcats the second set, 6-1, on her serve.
The teams both held early in the third set, although the 'Cats had a break point opportunity in the opening game that they could not convert. Rose held her serve in the second game to tie the set at 1-1. At 30-15, Rose used a short-hop forehand for a set up and Prousis used a cross-court backhand to put the 'Cats in position to win the game.
NU broke to take a 2-1 lead, but the Yellow Jackets broke back to even the set at 2-2. NU broke for the last time, but that is all they would need as they took a 3-2 lead and held on to win the final set, 6-4.
NU took a 5-3 lead behind two Rose winners at 30-0 and 40-0, and Rose put the team in a position to win the match when she hit a cross court touch shot while ranging to her backhand to give the 'Cats a match point at 5-3. NU could not convert and Georgia Tech forced Rose to serve for the match.
The sophomore held her end of the bargain and an error off her serve gave the Wildcats the win in the first round. They will face Bianca Dulgheru and Sylvia Kosakowski of Pepperdine in the second round.
Earlier in the day, Rose advanced to the round of 16 in the singles bracket with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tatsiana Uvarova of VCU.
For complete tournament information, visit the University of Georgia Tournament Information Center.
