Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Bear Down for Shot at NCAA Championship
5/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 13, 2009
NCAA.com Interactive NCAA Championship Bracket
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Sixteen of the nation's best women's tennis programs have descended on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, to compete for the 2009 NCAA Championship with Northwestern, the tournament's top overall seed, aiming to be the last team standing after next Tuesday's final. The Wildcats get underway at A&M's George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at 3 p.m. Friday when they face No. 16 Fresno State.
Wildcat fans not in attendance in College Station can track all of NU's NCAA Championship matches courtesy of Texas A&M's official tournament Web site, which features lineups, video and live point-by-point scoring.
This is the second consecutive year that NU has met Fresno State in the NCAA Championship round of 16 after having knocked off the Bulldogs by a 4-1 margin at the 2008 tournament in Tulsa. In that match, Maria Mosolova notched an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 1 against Melanie Gloria while Lauren Lui clinched the team win for the 'Cats against Fresno's Tinesta Rowe.
The two teams also got together for a neutral site match six weeks ago with Northwestern earning a hard-fought 4-2 win in San Diego. Fresno State has not lost since that March 27 encounter, stringing together 15 wins in a row since then.
Northwestern, now appearing in the round of 16 for the sixth straight season, has won 19 dual matches in a row and has sat atop the Campbell/ITA College Tennis rankings in every polling period this year. Five Wildcats find themselves in the most recent ITA singles rankings, highlighted by Mosolova's retaining the top overall position. Georgia Rose has garnered a No. 20 ranking, while Samantha Murray, Lui and Nazlie Ghazal check in at No. 47, No. 119 and No. 117, respectively.
The Bulldogs feature three players ranked in the top 70 in singles play, including No. 18 Gloria, No. 28 Anastasia Petukhova and No. 67 Renata Kucerkova. Fresno is also strong on the doubles side, where Petukhova and Kucerkova have kept a firm hold on the No. 1 overall ranking through much of the season. They are complemented in the doubles lineup by the 15th-ranked duo of Gloria and Rowe.
A win over Fresno State would match the best tournament performance in program history for NU, which has reached the quarterfinals two of the past three seasons. Northwestern would face either eighth-seeded California or ninth-seeded Georgia Tech, whose match will be played simultaneously with Northwestern's on Friday.
Northwestern is looking to improve on its all-time NCAA Tournament record of 22-19.
