March 29, 2011

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After playing five consecutive road matches over a month-long stretch, the 32nd-ranked Minnesota women's tennis team will play at home for the first time in 33 days this Friday in the first of two weekend matches against No. 15 Northwestern at the Baseline Tennis Center. On Sunday, the Gophers will welcome another highly-ranked foe in No. 21 Illinois.

Off to its best 14-game start in program history, Minnesota wrapped up a 4-1 road trip last Sunday in Michigan. The Gophers now have 6-1 both at home and on the road and are 2-1 in Big Ten play.

In singles play, Minnesota has been led by juniors Alexa Palen and Doron Muravnik. Palen is 12-1 and Muravnik is 11-2. Splitting time at the top position with Palen, who is 4-0 at No. 1, is sophomore Natallia Pintusava. Pintusava is 9-3 with a 6-2 ledger at the top spot.

Despite having lost six doubles competition points in 14 matches, Minnesota is off to a 12-2 start. The team's top tandem includes Pintusava and senior Magdalena Wiecha. The 39th-ranked duo is 7-1 on the spring and is coming off an 8-6 upset of the No. 7 pair in the country, Brooke Bolender and Emina Bektas of Michigan.

Northwestern enters Friday's match with a deceptive 8-7 record. All but one of the Wildcats' matches have been against ranked opponents and all of the team's losses have come against teams in the nation's top-25. Like the Gophers, Northwestern is 2-1 in Big Ten play.

The Wildcats, who are beginning a five-match road trip of their own on Friday, are led by juniors Kate Turvy and Brittany Wowchuk. Ranked 21st in the nation in singles, Turvy has gone 9-6 and has played all 15 of her singles matches at the No. 1 position. Wowchuk is No. 62 with a 7-7 record in the second and third flights.

In doubles, No. 16-ranked Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton have gone 4-5 at No. 1 and Turvy and Belinda Niu are 9-1 together. Abu Mushrefova, a junior is also ranked 76th with Veronica Corning with a 1-1 dual-match record.

Illinois, who will be Minnesota's third consecutive top-25 opponent when the teams meet on Sunday, has one loss in three Big Ten matches--a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Northwestern.

First-year player Melissa Kopinski has led to the team in singles to this point, boasting an 11-2 record and a No. 124 ITA ranking. Either sophomore Allison Falkin or redshirt senior Marisa Lambropoulos, both 7-6 overall, have competed at No. 1 in each of the team's matches.

Junior Rachael White is a part of two ranked doubles combinations. With Falkin, she is ranked 48th with a 5-4 record and with Kopinski she is ranked 59th at 1-1.

After this weekend, the Gophers will go back on the road for matches against No. 46 Penn State and Ohio State. Minnesota will then return home to play 41st-ranked Indiana and No. 33 Purdue.