And NU’s ranking fell.
It was all part of the team’s up-and-down weekend at the United States Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis.
The No. 20 Wildcats began by upsetting No. 6 UCLA 7-0 on Thursday, but they fell to No. 12 Vanderbilt 5-2 on Friday. They rebounded to beat No. 9 Southern California 5-2 on Saturday. NU had entered the tournament ranked 15th in the nation.
“It was an excellent opportunity to get a win,” coach Claire Pollard said of the match against UCLA. “We thought that maybe their ranking was higher than it should be. It was our part of the country and indoors, so we were confident.”
Pollard added that UCLA was missing some key players at the match. Bruins No. 1 Sara Walker could not make the trip because of a stress fracture in her foot.
“Once we got the doubles point, I knew we had an excellent chance to win handily,” Pollard said.
After beating the nation’s No. 6 team, the Cats should have faced an easier match against the No. 12 squad.
But the Commodores simply outplayed NU (5-2).
“Vanderbilt would have beaten UCLA,” Pollard said. “They are a legit top-10 team, while UCLA will probably finish in the top 25 or 30. Vanderbilt is the type of team that we would like to play again down the stretch.”
The undefeated Commodores took four of the singles matches and the doubles point in the victory.
Despite the loss, Pollard said the Cats played better against Vanderbilt than they did against UCLA, with Shannon Duffy and Simona Petrutiu taking the deciding matches to the third set before losing.
Coming back from a tough loss, the Cats had the “best win since I’ve been here against a legitimate top-10 team,” Pollard said.
Colleen Cheng, Lia Jackson and Marine Piriou won in straight sets to lead NU over USC.
“There was no doubt that we were going to win,” Pollard said. “We didn’t give away any points – you have to earn every point against us.”
Lia Jackson said the team knew it could beat USC.
“You never want to lose two matches at the end of a tournament,” Jackson said. “We wanted to rebound from the loss to Vanderbilt.”
Cheng had the “best weekend of her career,” Pollard said. She beat Vanderbilt’s Julie Ditty, No. 11 in the nation, as well USC’s Jewel Peterson, a top-30 player.
Pollard said Cheng helped her quest for an individual bid to the NCAAs.
THE HUNTED: Saturday’s match against Michigan State (4-4) should allow the Cats to ease into the Big Ten schedule.
“We are clearly the better team,” Pollard said. “But we’ve lost before to a team that we were better than. We try to never take a team for granted or to be in awe of one because then you start changing your game plan every week. We are going to be just as focused playing Michigan State as we were playing UCLA last weekend.”
Pollard said she may try to give players like Ruth Barnes, who doesn’t normally play in matches, a spot in the lineup Saturday.
Jackson said the Cats – three-time defending Big Ten champs – will be able to work on their game when they travel to East Lansing, Mich.
“We want to get a good start in the Big Ten and not take anyone lightly,” Jackson said. “But we know we are going to have targets on our backs this season.”
