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Women's Tennis
vs ITA All-American Championship
Saturday, February 21
Durham, N.C.
TBA
Duke University
5
vs
2
Northwestern
10th-Ranked Duke Upsets Seventh-Ranked Northwestern, 4-2
2/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 21, 2004
DURHAM, N.C. - The 10th-ranked Duke women's tennis team came back from a 2-0 deficit on Saturday to knock off seventh-ranked Northwestern (7-2) at the Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils (6-1) won their 21st straight home contest and have now won 35 out of their last 36 home contests.
Northwestern came out on fire winning two of three doubles matches to take the doubles point and go ahead 1-0. The Wildcats top-ranked duo of Cristelle Grier and Jessica Rush downed Amanda Johnson and Julia Smith, 8-5, at the top position, while Jamie Peisel and Alexis Prousis from Northwestern defeated Tory Zawacki and Jennifer Zika, 8-3 at the second slot. Duke's Saras Arasu and Kristin Cargill won their third straight match with an 8-2 victory over Ruth Barnes and Andrea Young at No. 3 doubles.
In singles action, Northwestern picked up a quick 6-1, 6-1 victory at the No. 4 slot as Prousis knocked off 95th-ranked Smith. Duke responded by ripping off four straight victories to post the 4-2 win. Cargill, a freshman from Atlanta, Ga., cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Barnes at the sixth position to cut the Wildcat lead to 2-1 and 91st-ranked Arasu evened the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Young at No. 5.
In the featured match of the day at No. 1 singles, fifth-ranked Johnson of Duke battled fourth-ranked Grier. Johnson, a senior native of Bettendorf, Iowa, picked up two 7-5 victories to win her 103rd match of her career, which gave Duke its first lead of the day, 3-2. The dual match loss for Grier was her first of her career.
A freshman from Union, N.J., Zawacki netted a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Peisel at the third slot and 64th-ranked Zika downed 36th-ranked Rush, 7-5, 6-2, to close out the match.
"This is a great with for us," said Duke Head Coach Jamie Ashworth. "It was our first win against a top-10 team this year and is a big confidence boost for us heading into the outdoor season. We play better outside and we established that early in singles play today."
Duke will next travel to Waikoloa, Hawaii on Mar. 10 to battle Notre Dame.
Doubles 1. #1 C.Grier/J.Rush (NW) d. A.Johnson/J.Smith (DU) 8-5 2. J.Peisel/A.Prousis (NW) d. T.Zawacki/J.Zika (DU) 8-3 3. S.Arasu/K.Cargill (DU) d. R.Barnes/A.Young (NW) 8-2 Order of finish: 3, 2, 1- d - u - k - e -Singles 1. #5 Amanda Johnson (DU) d. Cristelle Grier (NW) 7-5, 7-5 2. #64 Jennifer Zika (DU) d. #36 Jessica Rush (NW) 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (8) 3. #89 Tory Zawacki (DU) d. Jamie Peisel (NW) 6-3, 6-3 4. Alexis Prousis (NW) d. #95 Julia Smith (DU) 6-1, 6-1 5. #91 Saras Arasu (DU) d. Andrea Young (NW) 6-1, 6-3 6. Kristin Cargill (DU) d. Ruth Barnes (NW) 6-3, 6-1 Order of finish: 4, 6, 5, 1, 3, 2
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Tennis
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/ Women's TennisPLAYER
/ Women's TennisPLAYER
/ Women's TennisPLAYER
/ Women's TennisPLAYER
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