Northwestern and Illinois Reach Final at Big Ten Championship – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/28/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 28, 2001
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The top two seeds in the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Championship are still alive, as No. 1 Northwestern and No. 2 Illinois posted wins in the semifinal round today at the Stickney Tennis Center. The Wildcats topped No. 4 Ohio State, 4-0, while the Illini defeated No. 6 Penn State, 4-1.
Northwestern and Illinois will meet in the final at noon Sunday at the Stickney Tennis Center. The Wildcats are bidding for their third-consecutive conference tournament title. The winner of the match receives the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
Ohio State and Northwestern split the first two doubles matches. OSU’s Kristy Dascoli and Monica Rincon defeated Colleen Cheng and Marine Piriou, 8-1, at No. 1 and Northwestern’s tandem of Jessica Rush and Lia Jackson topped Sadhaf Pervez and Laura Maloney, 8-1, at No. 2. At No. 3, the duo of Shannon Duffy and Simona Petrutiu of Northwestern posted an 8-5 victory over Erica Fisk and Claudia Castro to capture the doubles point for the Wildcats.
Northwestern won three matches in straight sets for the victory. Duffy clinched the win for the Wildcats by beating Pervez, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 3. Piriou topped Fisk at No. 4 (6-2, 6-2), while Rush was victorious at No. 6 over Castro (6-1, 6-2). The three matches that were abandoned all were in the third set.
Illinois began its match against Penn State by winning the doubles point. The tandem of Eva Choe and Carla Rosenberg defeated Penn State’s Judy Wang and Janelle Perez at No. 2 (8-2) and Jenny McGaffigan and Eldina Fazlic topped Teresa Whiteside and Leigh Ann Merryman, 8-1, at No. 3.
In singles, the Fighting Illini received wins at Nos. 3, 5 and 6 for the victory. Simone Kung posted a win over Wang, 6-2, 6-4, to clinch the win for Illinois. Illinois’ Michelle Webb won over Kristen Nowicki at No. 5 (7-5, 6-3) and at No. 6 Carla Rosenberg defeated Leigh Ann Merryman, 6-2, 6-3. Penn State’s Rebecca Ho recorded a win at No. 2 over Fazlic.
2001 Big Ten Women’s Tennis Championship Stickney Tennis Center, Columbus, Ohio Semifinals, April 28, 2001
No. 1 Northwestern 4, No. 4 Ohio State 0 Doubles 1. Dascoli/Rincon (OSU) def. Cheng/Pirouu (NU) 8-1 2. Rush/Jackson (NU) def. Pervez/Maloney (OSU) 8-1 3. Duffy/Petrutiu (NU) def. Fisk/Castro (OSU) 8-5 Singles 1. Kristy Dascoli (OSU) vs. Colleen Cheng (NU) 6-3 (NU), 6-2 (OSU), 3-0 (NU) abd. 2. Monica Rincon (OSU) vs. Lia Jackson (NU) 6-2 (NU), 6-1 (OSU), 2-2 abd. *3. Shannon Duffy (NU) def. Sadhaf Pervez (OSU) 6-4, 6-4 4. Marine Piriou (NU) def. Erica Fisk (OSU) 6-2, 6-2 5. Laura Maloney (OSU) vs. Simona Petrutiu (NU) 6-2 (OSU), 6-1 (NU), 3-0 (NU) abd. 6. Jessica Rush (NU) def. Claudia Castro (OSU) 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 Illinois 4, No. 6 Penn State 1 Doubles 1. Webb/Kung (UI) vs. Montgomery/Ho (PSU) 5-4 (PSU) abd. 2. Choe/Rosenberg (UI) def. Wang/Perez (UI) 8-2 3. McGaffigan/Fazlic (UI) def. Whiteside/Merryman (PSU) 8-1 Singles 1. Jenny McGaffigan (UI) vs. Pilar Montgomery (PSU 6-1 (UI), 5-4 (UI) abd. 2. Rebecca Ho (PSU) def. Eldina Fazic (UI) 6-2, 6-3 *3. Simone Kung (UI) def. Judy Wang (PSU) 6-2, 6-4 4. Eva Choe (UI) vs. Janelle Perez (PSU) 6-4 (PSU), 6-3 (UI) abd. 5. Michelle Webb (UI) def. Kristen Nowicki (UI) 7-5, 6-3 6. Carla Rosenberg (UI) def. Leigh Ann Merryman (PSU) 6-2, 6-3
*Win clinched match
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