Eighth-Ranked Wildcats Topped By No. 9 Texas, 6-1

3/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

March 2, 2012

Results

Site: Austin, Texas (Penick-Allison Tennis Center)
Score:No. 9 Texas 6, No. 8 Northwestern 1
Records: Texas (5-3, 0-0 Big XII), NU (5-5, 0-0 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Sunday, March 4 -- at No. 12 Baylor (Waco, Texas), 1 p.m.

AUSTIN, Texas -- No. 8 Northwestern began a challenging three-match road trip Friday night with a marathon match that ended in a 6-1 loss at the hands of another highly-ranked foe, the ninth-ranked Texas Longhorns at Penick-Allison Tennis Center in Austin, Texas.

The Longhorns were staked to an early advantage by winning the doubles point from the 'Cats. The first of three matches to settle came on the seconds line, where Aeriel Ellis and Cierra Gaytan-Leach paired off to knock off Northwestern's Veronica Corning (Beverly, Mass./Pingree School) and Brittany Wowchuk (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Oakville Trafalgar), 8-4.

Belinda Niu (Portland, Ore./Lincoln) and Kate Turvy (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) have won more matches than any other tandem for the Wildcats this season and the trend continued on Friday. Niu and Turvy evened the score in the race for the doubles tally with an 8-4 win against Krista Damico and Juliana Gajic, 8-4.

The point would be settled between NU's Linda Abu Mushrefova (Bradenton, Fla./Pendleton) and Nida Hamilton (Oak Brook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and UT's Lina Padegimaite and Noel Scott. The twosome from Texas emerged from the back-and-forth affair with an 8-6 triumph to secure the coveted early point.

Turvy, ranked No. 20 in the latest ITA poll, was the first Wildcat to claim a victory in the first set as she came from behind and bested Ellis in their opening stanza, 6-4. Unfortunately for the visitors the other five matches did not begin in as fine of a fashion.

Wowchuk, ranked 51st, Niu, Corning, Abu Mushrefova and Hamilton all fell short in their opening sets of singles play.

Several of those 'Cats shook off the early setbacks to roar back in the second set. Niu went ahead 4-0 in the second set versus No. 87 Scott, while Abu Mushrefova broke out to a 3-1 advantage against Gaytan-Leach. Turvy also continued to play well on the top line as she led 4-2 in the early going of set two.

Wowchuk continued to battle against Damico by winning an exciting game despite trailing 5-2. The junior from Northwestern dropped the set 6-3 as Damico notched the second point of the evening for Texas. Soon after, Hamilton fell by an identical score in her second set and the Longhorns went up 3-0.

Meanwhile, Ellis charged back to win four straight games to win the second set and force a decisive third frame. Niu finished off Scott, 6-0, to force another set in her match at No. 3 as well.

Texas' Padegimaite clinched the match for her team when she finished off Corning, 6-4, in the second set. Abu Mushrefova was able to put away Gaytan-Leach in the second, 7-5, to force another extra set, the third of the night.

With the final outcome decided, Gaytan-Leach defeated Abu Mushrefova in a superbreaker, 10-7, to secure the fifth point for the Longhorns. Ellis won the third set over Turvy, 6-2, while Niu and Scott engaged in a true slugfest to settle their score. Eventually, Niu won the tiebreaker, 10-2 to earn Northwestern's lone win of the match.

The three match road trip continues Sunday as the Wildcats wrap up their Texas two-step with another nonconference clash against a highly-ranked foe. Northwestern will travel to take on No. 12 Baylor in Waco, Texas at 1 p.m. The Bears will mark the tenth top-25 opponent that the Wildcats have faced this season.

Doubles
1. Lina Padegimaite/Noel Scott (UT) def. No. 4 Linda Abu Mushrefova/Nida Hamilton (NU) - 8-6
2. Aeriel Ellis/Cierra Gaytan-Leach (UT) def. Veronica Corning/Brittany Wowchuk (NU) - 8-4
3. Belinda Niu/Kate Turvy (NU) def. Krista Damico/Juliana Gajic (UT) - 8-4
Order of finish - 2, 3, 1*

Singles
1. No. 30 Aeriel Ellis (UT) def. No. 20 Kate Turvy (NU) - 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. Krista Damico (UT) def. No. 51 Brittany Wowchuk (NU) - 6-2, 6-3
3. No. 118 Belinda Niu (NU) def. No. 87 Noel Scott (UT) - 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (2)
4. Lina Padegimaite (UT) def. Veronica Corning (NU) - 6-3, 6-4
5. Cierra Gaytan-Leach (UT) def. Linda Abu Mushrefova (NU) - 6-4, 5-7, (10-7)
6. Elizabeth Begley (UT) def. Nida Hamilton (NU) - 6-1, 6-3
Order of finish - 2, 6, 4*, 5, 1, 3

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