In addition to losing an intense match to Illinois Saturday, the Northwestern women’s tennis team had to watch the Fighting Illini depart for Champaign with first place in the Big Ten.
Illinois (8-9, 5-0 Big Ten) entered the match as the underdog against the No. 13 Wildcats (14-3, 4-1), but escaped Evanston with a 4-3 victory — and their sportsmanship in question.
NU played without No. 5 singles player Marine Piriou, who will be sidelined for three weeks with mononucleosis. Piriou, NU’s lone freshman, has a 28-4 record in singles play and was undefeated in Big Ten play when teaming at No. 2 doubles with sophomore Lia Jackson.
Earlier in the year, NU altered its lineup when it played without seniors Katherine Nasser and Leigh Weinraub. But Saturday, the Cats couldn’t survive Piriou’s absence and lost both matches at No. 5 singles and No. 2 doubles.
“We know we’re a little hurt right now and somehow we’ve still got to find a way to win,” NU coach Claire Pollard said. “It’s not like we lost to the best team and it’s a wake-up call.”
Still, the Cats displayed their dominance in the higher spots as No. 1 Nasser and No. 2 Shannon Duffy won easily in two sets. Nasser ousted Eldina Fazlic 6-3, 6-2 and Duffy made short work of Simone King 6-2, 6-2.
However, Illinois proved to be the deeper team, winning the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches. Illinois started the match by winning two of three doubles matches to earn the first team point.
“(The Illini) came out and won the doubles and their confidence was rolling,” Duffy said. “We had our opportunities to win but the tides turned very quickly.”
The fierce, close contest became heated after Illinois went ahead 3-2 with the No. 3 and No. 4 singles matches still going on.
At No. 4 singles, Jackson had her 16-match winning streak snapped by Natasha Loebnitz 6-2, 5-7, 7-6. In that match, the Illini took a clinching 4-2 lead, but the Cats walked off the court as an Illini player yelled an insult directed at Jackson.
Then, Illinois coach Sujay Lama stormed onto the court to celebrate his team’s victory and attempted to end the No. 3 singles match prematurely.
NU’s Colleen Cheng was competing in a closely contested match when Lama started to celebrate.
“I was pissed,” Cheng said. “After you win, the world doesn’t come to an end.”
Cheng used the experience to propel her to a 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
However, the hurled insult and celebrating coach were not the only forms of the Illini’s behavior that angered the Cats. Illinois’ players repeatedly sang their fight song and showed a rude amount of exuberance on the sidelines during the matches.
“We knew coming in that they would be that annoying,” Cheng said. “(The loss) makes us realize no matter how high we are ranked that we can still lose a match to a team like Illinois.”
Added Duffy: “They displayed ridiculous behavior. They didn’t display any class. We’ve been taught how to act on the road and every other team in the Big Ten plays with class.”
After the grueling match, NU chose not to dwell on the emotional loss and instead focused on the upcoming week. Cheng is already looking for redemption.
“We will probably play them again at the Big Ten Championships,” Cheng said, “and they better watch out because we’ll kick their asses.”
