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Northwestern
No. 8 Tar Heels Fall To No. 12 Northwestern, 4-3
February 3, 2012 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 3, 2012
CHAPEL HILL --- No. 8 North Carolina dropped a thriller to No. 12 Northwestern Friday, falling 4-3 at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. Tar Heel Shinann Featherston tied the score at 3 before Kate Turvy outlasted Lauren McHale on court one to give the match to the Wildcats.
Carolina (5-2) swept all three doubles matches to secure the afternoon's opening point. In the day's headline match featuring a quartet of All-Americas on court one, Carolina's Featherston and McHale dominated the sixth-ranked Wildcat duo of Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton to the tune of an 8-1 victory.
Court three soon followed suit, as Laura Slater and Gina Suaraz-Malaguti notched an 8-5 victory over Veronica Corning and Turvy. That left Haley Hemm and Tessa Lyons to secure the doubles sweep for the Tar Heels and they were up to the task on court two, taking an 8-4 win over Wildcats Brittany Wowchuk and Belinda Niu.
In singles play, Carolina widened its lead with a quick 6-1, 6-3 victory by Caroline Price on court three.
Then came a furious rally from Northwestern (4-0). Niu and Abu Mushrefova both registered straight-set victories to even the score at two. Niu defeated Suarez-Malaguti, 6-0, 6-1, on court four, while Abu Mushrefova registered a 6-4, 6-1 win over Tessa Lyons on court five.
On court six, Slater won the opening set before eventually falling 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to Hamilton, giving the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.
Featherston split the opening sets with No. 86 Wowchuk on court two, before coming back from a break down in the third to secure the victory for Carolina, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, and even the score at three apiece.
That left No. 16 McHale and No. 26 Turvy to battle it out for the match on court one, and they did not disappoint. Turvy jumped out to two-break lead in the third set before McHale broke back to make the score 4-2. McHale then utilized her medical timeout to deal with evident cramps in her leg.
After being attended to, McHale held serve before Turvy eventually claimed the 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory, giving the match to Northwestern.
Carolina will next play in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships joining the 14 other site winners from last weekend's Kickoff. The Championships run from Feb. 10-13 at the Boar's Head Club in Charlottesville, Virginia.
No. 8 North Carolina 3, No. 12 Northwestern 4
Doubles
1. Featherston/McHale (UNC) def. #6 Abu Mushrefova/Hamilton (NU), 8-1
2. Hemm/Lyons (UNC) def. Wowchuk/Niu (NU), 8-4
3. Slater/Suarez-Malaguti (UNC) def. Corning/Turvy (NU), 8-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. #26 Kate Turvy (NU) def. #16 Lauren McHale (UNC), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
2. Shinann Featherston (UNC) def. #86 Brittany Wowchuk (NU), 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
3. #55 Caroline Price (UNC) def. Veronica Corning (NU), 6-1, 6-3
4. Belinda Niu (NU) def. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC), 6-0, 6-1
5. Linda Abu Meshrefova (NU) def. Tessa Lyons (UNC), 6-4, 6-1
6. Nida Hamilton (NU) def. Laura Slater (UNC), 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 4, 5, 6, 2, 1
Players Mentioned
