April 19, 2007

EVANSTON, Ill. -- After downing Ohio State in a midweek contest on Wednesday, the seventh-ranked 'Cats are one win away from completing their third-straight undefeated Big Ten regular season. The Wildcats, winners of their last 36 regular-season conference matches, take on Michigan State at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Individually, Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) is ranked 11th nationally in singles while Samantha Murray (Altrincham, England/Altrincham Grammar) is No. 38 and freshman Lauren Lui (Houston, Texas/Kinkaid) is No. 119.

In doubles, the pair of Rose and senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) who defeated top-ranked Moulton-Levy and Zoricic of William & Mary two weeks ago and then-eighth-ranked Thompson and Thompson of Notre Dame last week, sit seventh in the latest poll.

Last Time Out
No. 7 Northwestern won all nine matches en route to a 7-0 win Wednesday over No. 43 Ohio State.

Nortthwestern took the doubles point with a sweep of all three matches. At No. 1, the pair of Lui and Robison topped Julie Blackmore and Ciara Finucane, 8-5.

The Wildcats did not drop a set in their six singles wins. 38th-ranked Murray downed Blackmore at No. 1, 6-2, 6-2.

Prousis took down Ally Mueller at No. 2, 6-2, 6-3, while Lui won her eighth-straight with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Keesey at No. 3.

Robison topped Ruzimovsky at No. 4, 6-4, 6-2, and sophomore Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) improved her singles winning streak to eight with a 6-4, 7-5 win over O'Keefe at No. 5.

Suzie Matzenauer (Tacoma, Wash./Bellarmine) won her third-straight with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Julie Voss at No. 6.

Notes:
• Five of Northwestern's nine Big Ten wins have been shutouts.

• Ghazal and Lui both own eight-match singles winning streaks.

• Ghazal, Lui, Matzenauer and Rose are all undefeated in Big Ten singles matches.

• As a doubles team, Lui and Robison are 11-1 in duals.

• In Big Ten play, the Wildcats are a combined 47-7 in singles and 24-3 in doubles.

• Head coach Claire Pollard picked up her 200th win at NU last Sunday against Iowa.