April 24, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; -
Big Ten powerhouse No. 6 Northwestern (17-6, 8-1 Big Ten) took a 7-0 win today against Penn State (4-17, 0-9 Big Ten) in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions close out their regular season tomorrow against Wisconsin. It will be the final home match for seniors Sarah Lotto (Toronto, Ontario) and Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.).
Northwestern took an early 1-0 lead after winning on all three doubles courts and securing the doubles point. Following in singles play, the Wildcats won on all courts to take the 7-0 match victory.
In doubles play, sophomores Michaela Stracar (Jericho, N.Y.) and Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) dropped an 8-3 decision to Samantha Murray and Kate Turvy on the No. 3 court. Following in first doubles, Lauren Lui and Linda Abu Mushrefova clinched the doubles point for the Wildcats with an 8-2 win over Lotto and freshman Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.).
In second doubles, Maria Mosolova and Elena Chernyakova topped McCarthy and junior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) to complete the Northwestern doubles sweep.
Following in singles action, freshman Sarah Henderson (Auckland, New Zealand) was defeated by Abu Mushrefova on the No. 5 court, 6-1, 6-0. Lui extended Northwestern's lead to 3-0 with an 6-3, 6-2 victory over Prishlyak in third singles.
Following in sixth singles, Chernyakova secured the match victory for Northwestern with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Lotto. In second singles, McCarthy dropped a 6-3 decision in the first set to No. 104 Lui. The senior veterans were tied at 3-3 in the second set, then Lui pulled away to a 6-4 win to extend the Wildcat lead to 5-0.
Zobeideh took an early advantage in fourth singles with a 6-4 first set victory. Lee responded in the second set with a 6-1 win. In the tiebreaker, Lee snuck by Zobeideh for a 10-7 win.
In the final match of the day, Simidian kept No. 39 Murray on her toes in the first set of first singles, falling by only a narrow 7-6 margin. In the second set, the score was tied at 2-2 and 3-3, followed by a Murray run to a 6-4 win, completing the Northwestern singles sweep.
Following tomorrow's match against Wisconsin, the Nittany Lions travel to the University of Iowa to compete in the Big Ten Tournament. Play begins on Thursday, April 29 and continues through Sunday, May 2.
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| 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Doubles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lui/Abu Mushrefova | 8-2 | #1 | Simidian/Lotto | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mosolova/Chernyakova | 8-2 | #2 | Zobeideh/McCarthy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Murray/Turvy | 8-3 | #3 | Prishlyak/Stracar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Order of finish: 3, 1, 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | ||||
| #39 Murray | 7-6, 6-4 | #1 | Simidian | |
| #104 Lui | 6-3, 6-4 | #2 | McCarthy | |
| Turvey | 6-3, 6-2 | #3 | Prishlyak | |
| Lee | 4-6, 6-1, 10-7 | #4 | Zobeideh | |
| Abu Mushrefova | 6-1, 6-0 | #5 | Henderson | |
| Chernyakova | 6-3, 6-3 | #6 | Lotto | |
| Order of finish: | 5, 3, 6, 2, 4, 1 | |||