NU Wins 'Cat Fight Against Kentucky
Feb. 5, 2004
Round of 16 morning session results MADISON, Wis.--The more experienced team was victorious Thursday as Northwestern's eighth-ranked women's tennis team reeled off a 6-1 win over No. 13 Kentucky in the first round of the USTA-ITA National Team Indoor Championship at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. "They were different from last year," said head coach Claire Pollard, referring to the Kentucky team that beat NU 4-3. "They are young and just not as experienced as last year's team. When it came down to winning the big points, we were able to, and they were not." Eighth-seeded Northwestern (4-0) got one of those big points from Jessica Rush (Dallas, Texas/The Hockaday School), who was able to edge Sarah Foster 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) at No. 2. Fourth-ranked Cristelle Grier added a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Aibika Kalsarieva at No. 1. "(The tight) wins helped give us momentum," said Pollard. "We put Kentucky in such a big hole with those wins that they could not recover."
NU, which advances to the second round for just the second time in six tries, began the morning by taking 2-of-3 matches in doubles. Top-ranked Rush and Grier, as well as Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) and Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest), cruised to 8-1 wins at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.
Prousis also clinched the victory over the Southeastern Conference's Wildcats (6-2) with her 7-5, 6-1 triumph at No. 4. "I thought we played a pretty decent match," said Pollard. "We did a good job in doubles, and that set the tone for us. "We will try to enjoy the victory for a while before we look at Georgia, but we are excited for the opportunity to play them." NU's Wildcats will face second-seeded Georgia at 3 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinal round. The winner will play either No. 3 seed California or unseeded Texas A&M on Saturday. |
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