Northwestern Concludes Day One of Spring Wildcat Invitational

1/13/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Jan. 13, 2012

WIDay1

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern welcomed outside competition to the Combe Tennis Center on Friday for day one of the spring Wildcat Invitational. Other teams participating in the weekend-long event include local rivals UIC and DePaul and nationally ranked LSU.

The first action of the day for Northwestern came in the form of three exciting doubles duels against UIC. Head coach Claire Pollard mixed and matched her tandems throughout the day with promising results. Against the Flames, Kate Turvy teamed with newcomer Veronica Corning to down three-time Horizon League Player of the Year Mariya Kovaleva and her partner Haley Craig, 8-1. The familiar partnership of Brittany Wowchuk and Belinda Niu paired to knock off Polina Guimaraes and Teona Tsertsvadze, 8-5 in the closest match of the three. The Flames lone victory came when Elisa Simonetti and Jana Knoppe bested Nida Hamilton and Natalie Edell, 8-3.

Later, the Wildcats jousted with the No. 65 LSU Tigers in doubles action. Linda Abu Mushrefova paired with Corning to beat Whitney Wolf and Keri Frankenberger, 8-4. Hamilton and Niu joined forces to defeat Olivia Howlett and Yvette Vlaar in a thriller, 9-8. Finally, Turvy and Wowchuk downed Kaitlin Burns and Ariel Morton, 8-3.

Day one of the Wildcat Invitational concluded with singles matches between Northwestern and DePaul. For Northwestern, Niu bested Gia McKnight, 6-2, 6-2. Abu Mushrefova dropped the first set 6-1, but outlasted Patricia Fargas, 7-6 (8), 10-5 to claim victory for the Wildcats. In the evening's final match, Corning knocked off Jasmin Kling 6-2, 7-6 (5).

The Wildcat Invitational will resume Saturday morning, Jan. 14 at 9:30 a.m. with another full day of exciting tennis on tap.

••••••

Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!