In the third and last dual match of its toughest stretch of the season, the Wildcats did the last thing they expected to do: They dominated.
Dropping the last two duals to then-No. 11 California and No. 14 Fresno State, the No. 11 Northwestern women’s tennis team handled No. 15 Baylor Sunday, defeating three ranked singles players en route to a 6-1 victory.
And this was with senior Shannon Duffy sidelined with mononucleosis.
“Maybe we’re just this good,” NU coach Claire Pollard said. “We seem to be a hell of a great team even without Shannon Duffy.
“Teams get excited when they see that Duffy is not in the lineup. We needed to negate that confidence.”
NU (14-4) may have benefitted from Baylor’s brutal schedule. The Bears (15-4) played two matches Saturday, sweeping both Marquette and Wisconsin, before arriving in Evanston.
Even so, Baylor was 12-1 when winning the doubles point, and NU had lost its last two.
But the Cats prevailed in convincing fashion. Senior Colleen Cheng, who usually plays with Jessica Rush as the No. 28 doubles team in the nation, paired with Marine Piriou at No. 1 doubles Sunday to defeat Baylor’s Katja Kovac and Jahnavi Parekh 8-1.
“We did surprisingly better than anticipated,” Pollard said. “(Cheng and Piriou) played wonderfully at No. 1 doubles, which got the momentum of today started. But we played poorly at two.”
Rush teamed with Lia Jackson at No. 2 doubles, falling 8-2 to Karin Andersson and Frida Borjesson. But junior transfer Simona Petrutiu and freshman Ruth Barnes secured the doubles point with an 8-5 triumph over Vida Mulec and Paola Stephen at No. 3 doubles.
“If we win the doubles point, we only have to split the singles matches,” Cheng said. “Today we wanted to get our spark back because we have lost our last two doubles points.”
Cheng said playing with a new partner didn’t change the way she approached the match.
“If you play good, solid doubles, there is not much to get used to,” Cheng said.
In singles play, the Cats took five out of the six matches from Baylor, losing only at the No. 6 spot in a third-set tiebreaker.
Rush dominated her match at No. 5 singles, blanking Stephen 6-0, 6-0.
“She is the hardest-working member of our team,” Pollard said of Rush. “She takes care of her game and now is reaping the benefits. In stepping up from No. 6 to No. 5, we have to make sure that she is ready for the challenge.”
Cheng, ranked 42nd nationally, defeated No. 35 Kovac in straight sets 6-1, 7-5, and Jackson, ranked No. 61, upset No. 29 Parekh 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (8).
Although Parekh was ranked higher than Kovac, the two Baylor players switched singles positions shortly before taking the court. The move had little effect on the match’s outcome.
Barnes lost the only match of the day for NU, falling 3-6, 7-6, 1-0 (8) to Borjesson at No. 6 singles.
“She is a freshman and lost to a junior,” Pollard said. “The difference is experience. We have to force-feed her pressure. The others have had 15 matches to get used to college tennis.
“Ruth is having a crash course in what it’s like to be on a top 10 team.”
Pollard said Duffy – who Barnes replaced in the lineup – has continued to improve, but hinted that she might have to earn her spot back when she returns.
“We’re pretty good without her,” Pollard said.
