Tribe Opens Dual Match Season Against Big Ten Foes

W&M will travel to Michigan State on Jan. 19 and No. 7 Northwestern on Jan. 20.

01/17/08 12:00PM

Williamsburg - The William and Mary women’s tennis team will open the 2008 dual-match season on the road against a pair of Big Ten squads, Jan19-20. W&M will travel to East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday, Jan. 19, to battle the Spartans of Michigan State at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility beginning at 10:30 a.m. The Tribe will make the trek to Evanston, Ill., to face No. 7-ranked Northwestern at the Combe Tennis Center on Sunday, Jan. 20, at noon.

W&M was ranked No. 15 in the ITA national rankings released on Jan. 8. The Tribe finished in the same spot last sea-son after compiling an impressive 22-3 ledger on its way to the CAA Championship and a spot in the NCAA Round of 16 for the first time since 2003.

The Green and Gold lineup features a trio of ranked singles players in senior Megan Moulton-Levy, sophomore Ragini Acharya and junior Katarina Zoricic. Moulton-Levy headlines the group at No. 12 after earning ITA All-America hon-ors in singles each of the last two seasons. Acharya and Zoricic garnered rankings of No. 55 and No. 83, respectively. The trio also comprised a pair of nationally ranked doubles teams for the College. Acharya and Zoricic are ranked No. 27 nationally in doubles, followed by Moulton-Levy and Zoricic at No. 46.

Against MSU, W&M will see a familiar face on the opposing sideline in former Tribe assistant coach Erica Perkins, who is in her second season as the Spartan head coach. Michigan State is coming off a season opening tournament at the Michigan Invitational. The three-day event, which did not feature team scores, saw MSU junior Marianne Eelens, sophomore Christine Milliken and freshman Michelle Murphy compete against players from No. 17 Duke, No. 23 Michigan, No. 47 Denver and Miami (Ohio). It will be the first-ever meeting between W&M and Michigan State.

The Tribe and Northwestern will meet for the second straight season after the Wildcats claimed a close 4-3 win over W&M in Williamsburg last season. NU advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament last season and is ranked No. 7 nationally in the ITA poll released on Jan. 8. Northwestern leads the all-time series at 3-2, but it is tied at one each in Evanston.

The Wildcat lineup is loaded with ranked players, including five singles players and a trio of doubles teams. Freshman Maria Mosolova tops the group at No. 2 nationally in singles, followed by another top-10 player in Georgia Rose, who is No. 9. Samantha Murray sports a No. 20 singles ranking followed by No. 68 Lauren Lui and No. 99 Nazlie Ghazal. Lui and Murray comprised the Wildcats top-ranked doubles team at No. 7 in the national rankings. Ghazal and Suzie Matzenauer are ranked No. 38, while Alexis Conill and Keri Robison round out the group at No. 50.

Northwestern opened the spring season hosting the Northwestern Invitational, Jan. 11-13. The Wildcats turned in a dominating overall performance racking up a perfect singles record and an 18-2 doubles ledger in the three-day event. NU claimed five flights highlighted by victories from Mosolova in Flight A and Murray in Flight B.

The Tribe will open the home portion of its schedule on Saturday, Jan. 26, when it hosts No. 21 Wake Forest at 2 p.m. The rematch of the NCAA Regional final between the Tribe and Demon Deacons will be played at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. Last season, W&M downed Wake Forest twice, including a 5-2 victory during the regular sea-son and a 4-1 win in the NCAA Tournament.