No. 33 Iowa Not Enough For No. 9 Northwestern

April 9, 2006

IOWA CITY, IA – The No. 33 Iowa women’s tennis team was defeated today, 5-2, by ninth-ranked Northwestern. Northwestern claimed the doubles point as well as four singles victories in the match. Iowa’s record is now 13-4, including 5-1 against Big Ten opponents.

In doubles competition, Hillary Mintz and Kayla Berry were the first to finish. The duo was defeated at the number two position, 8-4, by Georgia Rose and Feriel Esseghir. Mili Veselinovic and Krissy Dowlin were the next duo to finish, and were defeated by Nazlie Ghazal and Jamie Peisel, 8-3, at the number three doubles position. Meg Racette and Jacqueline Lee were the final duo to finish. They were defeated at the number one doubles position, 8-3, by Alexis Prousis and Cristelle Grier.

In singles competition, Merel Beelen faced Esseghir at the number five position, and was defeated, 6-1, 6-0. Next to finish for the Hawkeyes was Dowlin at the number six singles spot. Dowlin was defeated by Ghazal, 6-0, 6-2.

Veselinovic was the third to finish for Iowa, defeating 24th-ranked Prousis, 6-1, 6-2. The win was the biggest of Veselinovic’s collegiate career thus far.

Finishing fourth for the Hawkeyes was Mintz at the number two singles position, falling to No. 8 Grier, 6-2, 6-1. Racette was the fifth Hawkeye to finish, and was defeated by No. 44 Rose, 6-4, 6-3 at the number one singles spot.

The final match to be completed was at the number four singles position, with Lee defending her winning streak of 14. The match went into a tiebreaker, and Lee came out on top, defeating Peisel, 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8), to improve her win streak to 15. Lee now posts a spring record of 16-1.

“I am so proud of how Jacqueline stuck in there. She worked hard and deserved to win that match,” said Iowa Head Coach Daryl Greenan. “Northwestern was heavily favored, and we had nothing to lose. We went down swinging. They were a better team today, but I’m proud of how our girls played. We played well and fought well. Northwestern brought their best game and so did we, but ours just wasn’t enough to come out with the win today.”

Iowa will next compete April 14th at Penn State, and April 16th at Indiana.

RESULTS

Singles

1. #44 Rose (NU) def. #37 Racette (UI), 6-4, 6-3

2. #8 Grier (NU) def. Mintz (UI), 6-2, 6-1

3. Veselinovic (UI) def. #24 Prousis (NU), 6-1, 6-2

4. Lee (UI) def. Peisel (NU), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)

5. Esseghir (NU) def. Beelen (UI), 6-1, 6-0

6. Ghazal (NU) def. Dowlin (UI), 6-0, 6-2

Doubles

1. Prousis/Grier (NU) def. Racette/Lee (UI), 8-3

2. Rose/Esseghir (NU) def. Mintz/Berry (UI), 8-4

3. Ghazal/Peisel (NU) def. Veselinovic/Dowlin (UI), 8-3