Northwestern University Athletics
Mosolova Ranked Second in the Country; NU Seventh
1/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 8, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- With the release of the first ITA national rankings, freshman Maria Mosolova (Moscow, Russia) became the highest ranked freshman to begin a season in two years, while Northwestern opens at No. 7 as a team.
Mosolova won 13 matches this fall -- a mark that included a victory in the consolation bracket of the ITA National Indoor Championships. The No. 2 rank is the second-highest rank ever for an NU freshman.
Also in the top 20 are junior Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) and sophomore Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar). Rose opens the season at No. 9 and was last season's Big Ten Player of the Year. During the fall season, Rose won the ITA Regional Championship. Murray, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, advanced to the finals of the ITA Regional Championships before falling to Rose and was the lone Wildcat to win a match in the championship round of the ITA National Indoor Championships. She begins the season ranked No. 20.
Murray, along with Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) team up to make NU's top-ranked doubles squad at No. 7 in the country. Teams of Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) and Suzie Matzenauer (Tacoma, Wash./Bellarmine) and Keri Robison (Decatur, Ill./Florida) and Alexis Conill (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) are also ranked in the top 50.
"It is an exciting time for our program. Our team's initial ranking illustrates the respect that coaches have for our program," head coach Claire Pollard said. "It is also nice to see the individual achievements translate in terms of individual rankings. The greatest thing of all is that every player on the team is ranked in either singles or doubles."
NU's spring season begins on Friday with the Wildcat Invitational at the Combe Tennis Center.
