Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Furman Invitational
Three Wildcats Alive for Singles Titles at Furman Invite
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 25, 2009
Furman Invite Day One -- Complete Results
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Northwestern got back into the swing of things on Friday, opening its 12th season under head coach Claire Pollard at the Furman Fall Invitational in Greenville, S.C. NU enjoyed a solid first day, with Maria Mosolova (flight one), Samantha Murray (flight five) and Elena Chernyakova (flight seven) all still in their respective winners' brackets after day one.
Mosolova--the top-ranked singles player in the Campbell's/ITA College Tennis poll--opened her junior season with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over South Carolina's Anna Morgina before downing No. 24 Noemi Scharle of Florida State in three sets, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.
Mosolova will meet Tennessee's Caitlin Whoriskey (No. 27) in Sunday's flight one final.
In flight five, Murray handled Jelena Durisic of North Carolina by taking the first set 6-3 and winning a second-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (6). In her next match, Murray bounced back from losing the first set to Florida State's Amy Sargeant to take the deciding sets 6-3, 6-2 and earn a spot in her bracket's final against Miljana Jocic of South Carolina.
Chernyakova got her sophomore campaign off to a winning start by beating Erica Robertson of Vanderbilt in three sets before coasting past Linzee Mabrey of North Carolina in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. She'll meet Jessica Wente of Florida State in the finals on Sunday.
Two Wildcat newcomers managed to win their first collegiate matches on Friday. Linda Abu Mushrefova overcame North Carolina's Halem Hemm, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Kate Turvy outlasted Estefania Balda of Clemson, 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in flight four. Turvy fell in her next match to No. 93 Lauren Macfarlane of Florida State, 6-3, 6-1, and will meet the Tar Heels' Sophie Grabinski in the third-place match on Sunday.
On the doubles side, Chernyakova teamed with freshman Brittany Wowchuk to record a shutout win over USC's Anna Morgina and Mattie Sarri-Bystrom in flight one. Down in flight three, Murray and Abu Mushrefova managed an 8-2 victory against Balda and Nelly Ciolkowski of Clemson.
Barring inclement weather, Northwestern and the rest of the field at the Furman Invitational is scheduled to resume play Saturday at 9 a.m.
Complete results are available in PDF format at the top of the page.
