Northwestern University Athletics
Fifth-Seeded Northwestern Set to Begin NCAA Tournament Run
5/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 9, 2007
Northwestern Women's Tennis Notes (NCAA Regionals)
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Evanston Regional Homepage
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Fifth-ranked Northwestern is ready to start its run in the 2007 NCAA Championships by welcoming Western Michigan, Indiana and Boise State to Evanston for the first and second rounds. The Wildcats earned a program-best No. 5 seed for this year's tournament.
NU faces 63rd-ranked Western Michigan in the first round at 2 p.m. Friday, May 11. The Broncos received an automatic bid to this year's championships by winning the MAC, topping second-seeded Buffalo, 4-1, in the championship match. WMU is 22-6 on the year and is making its second-straight appearance in the NCAA Championships and their fourth in program history.
The Wildcats are coming off a win in the Big Ten Championship tournament -- NU's record-tying ninth-straight Big Ten title -- that saw the 'Cats handle Michigan, 4-0, in the championship match.
Big Ten Player of the Year Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) have earned bids to the 64 player NCAA singles tournament while Rose and senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) will contend in the doubles bracket.
Freshman Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) and sophomore Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) both enter the tournament with 11 and 12-match winning streaks, respectively.
Rose Featured by United States Tennis Association
Rose is being featured this week by the United States Tennis Association (USTA). The Wildcat touched on a variety of topics in her interview, ranging from why she chose Northwestern to her favorite band and sports team.
Read the full USTA.com College Spotlight by Clicking Here.
Big Ten Dynasty
Northwestern captured its ninth Big Ten title with three convincing wins at the Big Ten Championship. The 'Cats completed a third-straight 10-0 conference season and now own a 37-match regular-season conference winning streak that dates back to 2004. NU has also captured seven of the last nine Big Ten regular-season titles.
Bagels for Everyone
Northwestern dominated opponents in the Big Ten Championship en route to a ninth-straight conference title. The Wildcats posted eight perfect sets in the three weekend duals, with six coming in match wins. Suzie Matzenauer (Tacoma, Wash./Bellarmine) won her match against Penn State 6-0, 6-0 and only surrendered one game in a 6-0, 6-1 triumph against Iowa. Ghazal put up a 6-0, 6-0 score against Michigan. Samantha Murray, Lauren Lui and Alexis Prousis also notched unblemished sets.
For schedules, results, live scoring and other information regarding this weekend's matches, visit the Evanston Regional Homepage.
For Northwestern's probable starters and full NCAA Championship notes, click the .pdf link above.
