Northwestern
Alabama
Wildcats Roll Past Tide, 6-1
2/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 11, 2006
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's eighth-ranked women's tennis team took the doubles point then used victories in five of six singles matches to beat No. 53 Alabama 6-1 Saturday at the Combe Tennis Center.
Feriel Esseghir (Sarasota, Fla./Brickhouse Academy/UCLA) and Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) struck first for the Wildcats as they cruised past the Crimson Tide's Mari Muller and Andrea Brenes 8-1 at No. 2 doubles.
Northwestern's eighth-ranked doubles tandem of Cristelle Grier (Epsom, England/Putney) and Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) then clinched the doubles point for the 'Cats with an 8-1 win over Robin Stephenson and Ashley Bentley at the No. 1 spot.
At No. 3, Nazlie Ghazal (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) and Jamie Peisel (Savannah, Ga./Savannah Country Day) completed the doubles sweep for the 'Cats by beating Sofia Ayala and Melissa Day 8-4.
Leading 1-0 heading into singles play, Prousis quickly extended Northwestern's lead to 2-0 by topping Alabama's Melissa Day at No. 3 6-1, 6-3.
Ghazal finished next for the 'Cats with a straight-set win over Shelley Godwin at No. 6 6-3, 6-1.
Esseghir then clinched the win for Northwestern with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Brenes at No. 5.
Grier then took her seventh-consecutive singles win when she earned the 6-4, 6-1 victory over Stephenson at No. 1, extending the NU lead to 5-0.
After dropping the first set, Rose responded by taking the second set and then rallied in the tiebreaker to beat Bentley 6-7 (8), 6-3, 1-0 (10-6) at No. 2.
Peisel was the only Wildcat to suffer a loss on the day as she dropped a tight match to Mari Muller at No. 4 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 (10-4).
With the win, Northwestern improves to 4-1 on the season. The Wildcats return to action later today as they host Furman at 6 p.m. at the Combe Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
