Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
NCAA Individual Championships
Northwestern's Run Halted at NCAA Individual Championships
5/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 23, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Another landmark season for Northwestern came to a close on Saturday when NU's final entrants in the NCAA individual championships were eliminated from play in College Station. Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui battled to the end in a three-set loss to eighth-ranked Stanford while on the singles side, NU sophomore Maria Mosolova was ousted from the draw in two sets by Georgia's eighth-seeded Chelsey Gullickson, the 2009 ITA National Rookie of the Year.
Rose and Lui, who earned All-American status by reaching the tournament's quarterfinal round, concluded their season with a 27-13 overall doubles record. Mosolova, a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year and twice an All-American in singles, ended her stellar sophomore season with a 36-8 record, upping her career singles mark to 77-14.
Rose and Lui faced a stiff test from the Stanford duo and took some time finding their rhythm, falling behind 4-1 when a well-struck forehand down the middle by Lui landed just beyond the baseline. Soon after, with the score 5-2 in Stanford's favor, the 'Cats survived a 40-30 set point and took it to five deuce points before the Cardinal held on to take the first set 6-2.
In the second, Lui set the tone with an excellent first service game that Rose built off in the third game to make it 2-1 NU. A crucial break in the next game put Northwestern in the driver's seat at 3-1 and they later held their break advantage after three deuce points when a Rose forehand was volleyed wide by Burdette, giving NU a 5-2 lead.
After closing the second set 6-3, NU hung tough in the third thanks to a successful serve game by Lui in which she nailed two aces, tying the score at one. But Stanford was able to go on a run to win four of the next five games to take a 5-2 lead and put Northwestern on the brink of defeat. Rose effectively held serve and the 'Cats fought to break the Cardinal, forcing a return volley into the net to pull within one game.
In a tense 10th game, Northwestern won the first point before Stanford found its game at the net, hitting two volley winners to end the match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Mosolova's quarterfinal singles match got underway with three straight holds of serve before Gullickson gained a 3-1 break advantage while making Mosolova move from sideline to sideline. In the next game, Gullickson needed five deuce points to hold serve but eventually managed to do so, going ahead 4-1. In Gullickson's final service game, Mosolova built a 40-15 lead but could not protect it as the Bulldog came back to wrap up the first set, 6-1.
Gullickson carried her momentum into the second by breaking Mosolova's first service game before Mosolova responded by breaking Gullickson's serve without dropping a point. Mosolova fell into her comfort zone after that, tracking down everything that Gullickson sent her way in building a 4-1 advantage.
But the tide swung back in Gullickson's favor after that as she quickly erased the deficit to even things at four and she managed to eke out a one-game lead on a double fault by Mosolova. In the final game, Mosolova trailed 40-30 when she tracked down a great backhand by Gullickson, but she couldn't muster it over the tape as Gullickson claimed the 6-4 victory in the second set.
Northwestern loses three invaluable seniors to graduation—Rose, Nazlie Ghazal and Keri Robison—but looks to come back strong in 2009-10 with a lineup bolstered by two returning All-Americans in Mosolova and Lui.
NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Saturday Results
#8 Chelsey Gullickson (UGA) def. #1 Maria Mosolova (NU), 6-1, 6-4
#8 Barte/Burdette (STAN) def. #20 Lui/Rose (NU), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
