Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Tulsa
Top-Ranked Wildcats Down Tulsa, 7-0
2/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 1, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 1 Northwestern punched its ticket to the ITA Indoor Team Championship in Madison, Wis., with its 7-0 dual match win against No. 34 Tulsa Sunday at Combe Tennis Center in Evanston. NU did not drop a set in singles over the two-day event.
The Badgers will host the Indoor Team Championship Feb. 13-16 as NU attempts to repeat and improve on its run to the final match in 2008, where it dropped a 4-2 decision to Georgia Tech.
NU secured a 1-0 lead after doubles play by winning all three matches, as they did Saturday vs. New Mexico. At the No. 3 spot, junior Samantha Murray and senior Keri Robison found themselves in a 3-0 hole to start the match but battled back to win an 8-6 decision over Thalia Diaz-Barriga and Ewa Szatkowska. The duo improved to 9-1 in 2008-09 with the win.
Senior Georgia Rose again paired with freshman Elena Chernyakova at No. 2, getting off the court first for the 'Cats with an 8-3 win against Anastasia Erofeeva and Jie Zeng. NU completed the doubles sweep with an 8-4 victory by junior Lauren Lui and sophomore Maria Mosolova against Alexandra Kichoutkin and Marta Marcinkowska. On match point, Mosolova endured a long baseline rally before Lui stepped in to slam home the winner at the net.
In singles action, Mosolova was locked in a back-and-forth match with Tulsa's Alexandra Kichoutkin before managing to get a critical break to win the first set, 6-4. She took control of the match from that point on, consistently running Kichoutkin sideline to sideline on her way to a 6-0 second-set victory.
Robison was the first off the court in singles with a decisive 6-0, 6-0 victory against Caroline Beaulieu, breaking Beaulieu's serve in the final game to seal the win. Robison improves to 10-5 at singles play this year and 2-0 in dual matches.
Lui showed her resiliency against Tulsa's Marcinkowska as the Golden Hurricane jetted to a 4-1 lead in the first set. Lui found her touch, however, and only surrendered one more game the rest of the match on her way to a 6-4, 6-1 win.
Playing at the No. 5 position, senior Nazlie Ghazal took on Erofreeva and posted a 6-4, 6-3 win. Each player managed to hold throughout the second set until Ghazal broke serve on a deuce point while leading 4-3 to take control of the contest.
Murray wrapped up competition for the 'Cats with a 6-4, 6-1 win vs. Tulsa's Jie Zeng to improve to 17-6 in 2008-09.
Before heading to Wisconsin in two weeks, Northwestern faces a challenge at home in the form of No. 16 Texas at noon on Sunday, Feb. 8.
Northwestern 7, Tulsa 0
Singles
No. 1: Maria Mosolova (NU) def. Alexandra Kichoutkin (TU), 6-4, 6-0
No. 2: Georgia Rose (NU) def. Thalia Diaz-Barriga (TU), 6-2, 6-1
No. 3: Samantha Murray (NU) def. Jie Zeng (TU), 6-4, 6-1
No. 4: Lauren Lui (NU) def. Marta Marcinkowska (TU), 6-4, 6-1
No. 5: Nazlie Ghazal (NU) def. Anastasia Erofeeva (TU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 6: Keri Robison (NU) def. Caroline Beaulieu (TU), 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1: Lui/Mosolova (NU) def. Kichoutkin/Marcinkowska (TU), 8-4
No. 2: Chernyakova/Rose (NU) def.Erofeeva/Zeng (TU), 8-3
No. 3: Murray/Robsion (NU) def. Diaz-Barriga/Szatkowska (TU), 8-6
