The No. 16 Northwestern women’s tennis team felt at ease in the cold and windy conditions over the weekend as it picked up two valuable wins and re-solidified its status as a dangerous team in the Big Ten.
The Wildcats (17-4, 6-2 Big Ten) embraced the return of freshman Marine Piriou and used that psychological boost to jump all over Minnesota 5-2 on Saturday and Miami 7-1 on Sunday.
Piriou, the No. 5 singles player, was not at full strength after two weeks of inaction due to mononucleosis. But her presence alone impacted her teammates.
Piriou nevertheless performed well as she joined sophomore Lia Jackson at No. 2 doubles to win 8-4 against both Minnesota and Miami.
Against Minnesota (14-5, 5-3), Piriou battled Tammy Wang through two tiebreakers. But with the team victory already secured, NU coach Claire Pollard decided to spare her recovering player a lengthy and unnecessary third set by ending the match at 7-6, 6-7.
Piriou was rested and ready to go Sunday as she rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Miami’s Lauren Scaglione in less than 45 minutes.
“(Saturday) was difficult because it was the first match,” Piriou said. “I was really excited to come back but I definitely was a little weak physically. But (Sunday) I felt great.”
However, the weekend featured other top performances, beginning with No. 1 Katherine Nasser surviving a stiff three-set challenge by Minnesota’s Nora Sauska before dominating Miami’s Alanna Broderick on Sunday.
No. 2 Shannon Duffy frustrated and outlasted her opponents. She remains undefeated in conference play with a 6-4, 6-0 result over Minnesota’s Sandra Olsen.
Against Miami, Duffy provided the clinching win with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory that took nearly three hours to play. Duffy and Miami’s Meredith Laughlin frequently traded groundstrokes and the match included several games with multiple deuces.
“I’ve had too many three-set matches this year,” Duffy said. “It was a good match even though I lost my focus in the second set.”
No. 3 Colleen Cheng teamed with Nasser for two important doubles victories at No. 1 doubles. Then against Miami, Cheng rallied from a 6-1 deficit in the first-set tiebreaker to win 8-6 and breezed to victory in the second set 6-2.
Sophomore Lia Jackson at No. 4 singles walked onto the court confident and left the court confident after losing only a combined six games. The two wins over the weekend give Jackson a total of 31 for the season, tying the school record set by Duffy.
Saturday started out with sunshine but finished with cold setting in, which didn’t noticeably affect either Big Ten school. But, the visiting Hurricanes (9-11) arrived on a chilly Sunday and clearly felt and looked out of place.
“They were all bundled up, they had their stocking caps on,” Duffy said. “They just did not look like a happy team. They warmed up for a while, ran around a little bit, but they were not happy the entire day.”
And Miami, like Minnesota, had no answer for Nasser’s backhand, Duffy’s net game and Jackson’s patience.
“I thought we did a great job of coming out ready, using the conditions to our advantage,” Pollard said. “(Sunday) was a good example of the kind of expectations that we come to expect from us.”
NU is undefeated in conference play when their starting lineup is intact. And coming off the weekend’s success, the team anxiously awaits the Big Ten tournament and NCAA championships in order to redeem its midseason woes and accomplish its postseason objectives.
“This weekend, we had two really good wins,” Duffy said. “It’s great to have Marine back in the lineup. It’s been a long season, but it’s almost over so we need to use that as motivation. Big Tens are coming up and that’s where we want to play well.”
