Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Cal Invitational
Wildcats Dominate Through First Two Days of Nike Cal Invitational
9/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 30, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Through two days of the Nike Cal Invitational, Northwestern has four singles entries and two doubles pairs still alive to play in the semifinals and championship rounds of the four tournaments held on Sunday in Berkeley, Calif.
In the Gold ITA Singles tournament, Northwestern will have three of the four representatives playing in the four semifinalist spots. Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) began her run as a No. 2 seed, got a first-round bye and then easily defeated her next two opponents to reach the semifinals. Her opponent will be teammate Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar), who has dropped just one set in three matches.
On the other side of the bracket, freshman Maria Mosolova (Moscow, Russia) seeks to reach the championship against either Rose or Murray after defeating her first three opponents while dropping just one set, as well. Mosolova's opponent is Suzi Babos of Cal, who defeated NU's Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) 7-6 (5), 6-0 in the round of 16.
In the Blue ITA Singles tournament, Northwestern had three participants reach the round of 16. Junior Suzie Matzenauer (Tacoma, Wash./Bellarmine) is still alive in bracket, defeating three opponents to reach the semifinals to play against Cal's Claire Ilcinkas. Ilcinkas knocked Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) out of the tournament in the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory. The tournament's No. 1 seed, Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid), fell in the round of 16 3-6, 4-6.
Northwestern's successes continued on to the doubles portion of the Invitational with three pairs of Wildcats competing this weekend. In the Gold ITA Doubles, Murray and Metzanauer paired up and reached the semifinals before falling to a pair from Arizona State, 9-8 (5), in a tiebreaker. Conill and Lui take on ASU's Laila Abdala and Lauren Megale in the championship round seeking to avenge their teammates' defeat. The pair of Conill and Lui defeated their first three opponents with ease, 8-2, 8-4, 8-4.
In addition to the championship appearance in the Gold ITA Doubles, Northwestern sends a pair to compete in the Blue ITA Doubles championship round, as well. Mosolova and Ghazal defeated their first opponents, 8-3, 8-2, 8-1 and like Lui and Conill, face a pair from Arizona State in the finals.
