No. 9 Northwestern Sweeps Past Texas, 7-0

3/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

March 5, 2011

Complete Results

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Combe Tennis Center)
Score: No. 9 Northwestern 7, No. 24 Texas 0
Records: NU (7-5, 1-0 Big Ten) Texas (4-4)
Next NU Event: Thursday, March 24 vs. UC Santa Barbara, • Santa Barbara, Calif. • 10 a.m. CT

EVANSTON, Ill. -- In a clash of two top-25 teams on Saturday, No. 9 Northwestern proved to be too much for No. 24 Texas to handle as the 'Cats won a 7-0 decision. The Wildcats pounced quickly on the Longhorns, winning the first team point with two sound doubles victories, on their way to a second-straight dual win.

"This is our last dual match for quite some time and I know that we wanted to make the most of it," said head coach Claire Pollard. "Texas is a quality opponent with some veteran players so it's a nice win for us. We have a lot to improve on over the next few weeks and it's a great opportunity for us to get better."

The No. 3 doubles team of Kate Turvy and Belinda Niu, cruised to an 8-1 victory, never losing momentum against Texas' Caroline Larsson Maggie Mello. That energy carried over as NU's No. 1 doubles team of Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton fended off Cierra Gaytan-Leach and Amanda Craddock from UT. Both doubles teams were feeding off of great serves and tremendous saves, deflecting any chance Texas might have had to upset them.

Things got more interesting though when NU's No. 1 Doubles, Maria Mosolova and Elena Chernyakova, found themselves three games down. They rallied back to force a tiebreaker set with Texas' Aeriel Ellis and Krista Damico, but from there, the Longhorns composed themselves and defeated the Wildcat duo 8-6 (7-2).

It wasn't easy, but the Wildcats were able to make a clean sweep in the singles. It wasn't until nearly two hours after the singles matches had started that Kate Turvy made is a 2-0 Wildcat lead. Turvy found herself down in the second set, but was able to fight off Maggie Mello to secure the point with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Nida Hamilton followed suit and took down Caroline Larsson, 6-3, 6-4, putting the Wildcats on the brink of victory ahead 3-0.

No. 1 singles proved to be a tough battle for Maria Mosolova as Texas' Aeriel Ellis kept things close, forcing two tiebreakers. Ellis finally fell in the second set, giving Mosolova a 7-5, 7-6 win and securing the all-important 4th point Northwestern. Next came a strong performance from freshman Belinda Niu. She out-muscled Krista Damico 6-4, 6-3.

Perhaps the performance of the day, however, came from sophomore Linda Abu Mushrefova. She trailed 6-3, 5-2 to Amanda Craddock with what seemed little chance to force a third set. Something sparked for Mushrefova and she went on a tear, blazing back to force a tiebreaker in the second set. She then cruised to an easy third-set victory, beating Craddock 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.

At No. 5, junior Stacey Lee took on Juliana Gajic in a fantastic match. The two went head-to-head keeping pace with each other, forcing numerous deuces. Almost four and a half hours after the day began, Lee put Gajic away in the third set, locking up a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win and a Wildcat sweep.

Next up, the Wildcats have over two weeks off before a trip to UC Santa Barbara on March 24.

No. 9 Northwestern 7, No. 24 Texas 1
Singles:
1: #25 Maria Mosolova (NU) def. #16 Aeriel Ellis (UT), 7-5, 7-6
2: #72 Belinda Niu (NU) def. Krista Damico (UT), 6-4, 6-3
3: #93 Kate Turvy (NU) def. Maggie Mello (UT), 6-3, 6-4
4: #Linda Abu Mushrefova (NU) def. Amanda Craddock (UT), 3-6, 7-6, 6-2
5: Stacey Lee (NU) def. Juliana Gajic (UT), 6-3, 3-6
6: Nida Hamilton (NU) def. Caroline Larsson (UT), 6-3, 6-4

Doubles: 1: #8 Abu Mushrefova/Hamilton (NU) def. #15 Gaytan-Leach/Craddock (UT), 8-4
2: Ellis/Damico (UT) def. Mosolova/Chernyakova (NU), 8-7 (7-2)
3: Turvy/Niu (NU) def. Larsson/Mello (UT), 8-1

Order of Finish: Singles (3, 6, 1*, 2, 4, 5)
Doubles (3, 1*, 2)

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