Women's Tennis Closes Out Regular Season At Home
4/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 19, 2007
Weekly Notes-Wisconsin, Northwestern
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EAST LANSING, Mich.-In the final weekend of regular season competition, Michigan State will play host to Wisconsin on Saturday, April 21 at 12 p.m., and Northwesten on Sunday, April 22, at 12 p.m. The Spartans head into the weekend following losses to Penn State and then-No. 25 Michigan.
Senior Pascale Schnitzer and sophomore Stephanie Kebler picked up the Spartans' two points in the 5-2 loss to Penn State, competing at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively. In the 6-1 loss to Michigan, sophomore Marianne Eelens claimed the lone Spartan victory at No. 5. Against the No. 25 Wolverines, Michigan State was able to force three singles matches into a third set.
Your Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State currently holds a 43-19 advantage over all opponents in doubles action, and a 63-62 record in singles play. The Spartans are 7-3 with a home court advantage. Last weekend, Christine Bader and Pascale Schnitzer split action at No. 1 singles. In 20 matches at No. 1 Bader owns a 9-11 season record, while Schnitzer who has played recently at No. 2, but primarily at No. 3 owns an overall record of 11-9. Sophomore Stephanie Kebler, who has rounded out the top three, has compiled a 10-11 season record.
The Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin owns a 4-15 overall, 0-9 Big Ten record heading into this weekend. Last weekend, Wisconsin fell to both Iowa and Minnesota, 4-3. The Badgers have been most successful in doubles play. Caitlin Burke and Liz Carpenter are on a five-match winning streak at the No. 1 spot, rank No. 56 in the latest Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings and have posted a 10-2 record on the spring season. Kaylan Caiati and Nicole Beck won four of their last five matches together and are 7-2 when partnering together this spring. In singles, Burke leads the team at No. 1 with a 9-2 record.
The Northwestern Wildcats
No. 7 Northwestern currently leads the Big Ten with a 9-0 record (17-4 overall), and are on an eight-match win streak. The Wildcats' top three singles players are each ranked in the ITA/Fila Top 125 in singles. Sophomore Georgia Rose, who is ranked No. 11, leads the group at No. 1 singles with a 15-2 record, while freshman Samantha Murray (11-2) is ranked No. 38 and Lauren Lui (16-5) is ranked No. 119.
In doubles, Rose and Alexis Prousis are ranked No. 7 with a 13-3 record at No. 1. Competing at No. 3, Nazlie Ghazal and Keri Robison compiled a 7-3 record early in the season and are currently the No. 60 doubles pairing. Robison and Lui have competed together recently, posting an 8-2 mark at No. 2, while Murray and Alexis Connil own a 10-2 record at No. 3.
The 2007 Spartan Senior Class
A Darwin, Australia native, Sarah Andrews is the daughter of Gary and Kris Andrews. Sarah has been invited to play at the ITA Midwest Regional Championship three times and competed at the ITA Women's All-American Championships in 2006. In 2005, Sarah was named the team's Most Valuable Player after compiling a 16-6 singles and 11-9 doubles record during the regular season. Sarah was honored last season as Michigan State's Sportsmanship honoree at the Big Ten Championships. She is majoring in dietetics.
A Santiago, Chile native, Pascale Schnitzer is majoring in general management. Pascale was named Academic All-Big Ten in both 2005 and 2006, and was named an ITA Academic All-American in 2006. She was named the team's most improved player in 2005, with a regular season record of 11-10 in singles and 12-10 in doubles. She continued her success last season, posting winning records of 12-9 in singles and 14-4 in doubles. Pascale is the daughter of Andres Schnitzer and Dominique Ruab.
Up Ahead: 2007 Big Ten Championship
The 2007 Women's Tennis Big Ten Championship will be hosted by the University of Minnesota from Thursday, April 26 to Sunday, April 29. Teams seeded No. 6-11 will begin play on Thursday with the first match set for 9 a.m. The championship will be played on Sunday at 12 p.m. Admission to the event is free, and results can be found online at www.gophersports.com.
Players Mentioned
