April 5, 2009
One day after earning its first victory over a ranked opponent this season, the Purdue women's tennis team was handed a 7-0 loss by No. 1 Northwestern Sunday at the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston, Ill.
"Our doubles play was very good," head coach Laura Glitz said. "We were very close to winning at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. I thought we did a good job competing against the best program in the country."
Purdue (6-10, 2-4) found itself in an early hole after dropping the doubles point. Elena Chernyakova and Samantha Murray gave the Wildcats the early edge by defeating junior co-captain Tatiana Ganzha and freshman Kay Kay Magi 8-2 at No. 3. The point was clinched at the No. 2 position, where the 28th-ranked duo of Keri Robinson and Maria Mosolova defeated Purdue's freshman duo of Jennifer Rabot and Remi Martin. The sweep was completed at No. 1 when the 14th-ranked tandem of Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui earned an 8-5 victory over senior co-captain Stephanie Wooten and junior Michelle Sammons.
Northwestern (17-1, 6-0) continued to roll in singles play. Chernyakova extended the Wildcats' lead by putting together a 6-1, 6-0 win over freshman Remi Martin at No. 6. Murray, who is ranked 46th in the NCAA in singles, gave the Wildcats more breathing room with her 6-0, 6-1 defeat of Wooten at No. 2. The match was clinched when Nazlie Ghazal defeated Ganzha 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4.
Northwestern kept applying the pressure and picked up another win at No. 5 as Stacey Lee beat freshman Anna Dushkina 6-2, 6-1. Rose, ranked 20th in the NCAA in singles, was pushed to tiebreaks in both sets by Sammons but pulled out a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) victory. Lui ended Rabot's three-match winning streak and finalized the sweep by taking a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 decision at No. 3.
Purdue evened its conference road record at 2-2 with the loss. The Boilermakers return to action Saturday when they travel to No. 23 Michigan. The match, which will be held at the University of Michigan Varsity Tennis Center, is slated for an 11 a.m. ET start.