Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Sports

No. 2 Northwestern dominated its weekend trip to North Carolina, winning all three of its dual matches, including victories over No. 5 North Carolina and No. 8 Duke.

After dropping the doubles point, the Wildcats (11-1) rallied against the Tar Heels on Friday for a 5-2 win. Sophomore Samantha Murray had a convincing 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles. Third-ranked Georgia Rose lost 6-4, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, but NU rebounded thanks to victories from Lauren Lui, Suzie Matzenauer, Maria Mosolova and Nazlie Ghazal.

It was the Cats' second win over North Carolina in two weeks, as NU swept the Tar Heels for a 4-0 win in the ITA National Indoor Tennis Championships' semifinals.

The Cats continued their winning streak Saturday with a 6-1 triumph over Princeton. Lui didn't drop a game in her 6-0, 6-0 win, while Murray and Ghazal only droppped one each in their victories.

The only negative for NU came with Rose at No. 1 singles, as she dropped her third straight match, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (4).

But the junior quickly recovered Sunday against the Blue Devils. Playing at No. 2 singles, she snapped her losing skid with a 3-6, 6-3, 10 (10-2) win over Ellah Nze.

NU won the doubles point and took a 2-0 lead when Lui's opponent, Elizabeth Plotkin, retired from the match. After Murray's 6-4, 6-1 loss and a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win by Matzenauer, Mosolova captured a 6-4, 6-3 win over Tara Iyer at No. 1 singles to seal the Cats' seventh win against a top-15 opponent and hand Duke its first loss of the season.

The Cats do not play this week but have home duals against Wisconsin on March 7 and Harvard on March 9.

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