It’s not your typical weekend for the Northwestern women’s tennis team. The No. 17 Wildcats (19-4, 8-2 Big Ten) are entering the pressurized Big Ten tournament as the No. 3 seed and the defending champions.
But NU coach Claire Pollard downplayed the hype of the postseason tournament, valuing her team’s performance over her team’s success.
“We don’t emphasize this weekend over any other,” Pollard said. “I hope there is no team in the nation that goes into a conference tournament without the goal of winning it.”
Although Ohio State and Illinois are seeded higher, no one wants to face NU, which enters the tournament on a five-match winning streak and continues to be the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls.
The tournament started Thursday with first-round matches and will end Sunday with the finals. The Cats received a first-round bye and will take on No. 6 Indiana (14-10, 7-4) today at 1 p.m.
In a first-round match Thursday, Indiana faced little competition from a Michigan State team that didn’t register a win in the Big Ten this season. The Spartans forfeited one doubles and two singles matches, allowing the Hoosiers to win 4-0.
NU defeated Indiana earlier in the year 5-2. But the win was not easy as four of the six singles matches went to three sets.
The Cats have a simple formula for success — capture the doubles point and rely on their top players to win at least three matches.
“I’m going to measure our success by: Did we prepare well, play well and control the things we can control?” Pollard said.
NU’s singles players have held their own with the rest of the Big Ten. Three of the five Big Ten players in the ITA’s top 100 play for NU. Sophomore Lia Jackson, who broke the school record for wins in a single season last weekend, entered the rankings this week at No. 100. Jackson earned her 32nd and 33rd wins to surpass junior Shannon Duffy’s old record.
Senior Katherine Nasser and Duffy join Jackson on the elite list, placing at No. 53 and No. 91, respectively.
The tournament could feature more individual highlights for the Cats as Nasser, Marine Piriou and Colleen Cheng are all within reach of exceeding 30 wins.
However, NU is concentrated on team success and replicating last year’s magical run in the tournament, which included victories over Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Last season, the Cats avenged a regular season loss to Illinois, and the brackets this year could feature another emotional intra-state matchup in the semis.
NU maintains it will not look past anyone in the field and simply have a good time, relax and play tennis.
The Cats flew in Wednesday night, played a game of soccer in the morning and practiced in the afternoon. Pollard arranged it so that her team practiced at the same time of the Indiana-Michigan State match.
“We know enough about Indiana and the key is to focus on us,” Pollard said.
NU has endured a tough travel schedule in the fall, with matches against top-ranked teams in the winter and the Big Ten season in the spring. But the postseason tournament is where a team can build its reputation and resume.
“Pretty much the whole Big Ten season comes down to this,” Cheng said. “Big Ten titles don’t come around everyday.”
The Cats are eager to prove to the Big Ten and the NCAA selection committee that they are the best team in the conference and worthy of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA championships.
How confident is NU? Well, Pollard scheduled the team’s return flight for Sunday evening.
