On the heels of last weekend’s 6-1 loss to then-No. 49 William & Mary, the No. 17 Wildcats released some frustration on the state of Utah this weekend. Northwestern (3-1) swept both No. 36 Brigham Young University and unranked Utah – and didn’t drop a single set the entire weekend.
NU Coach Claire Pollard tinkered with her lineup for the first time this year, sending different doubles pairings up against the BYU Cougars (1-4) on Saturday. Pollard went a step further the next day by inserting freshman Kristi Roemer into the No. 6 singles slot against the Utes (3-2).
Although it was Roemer’s first career match, she fought off the initial jitters to finish strongly in a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Cassie Kasteler.
“I was a little nervous,” Roemer said. “Some of my strokes were just a little off today, but I just tried my best and I think I did OK.”
Roemer replaced sophomore Ruth Barnes, who paired up with Stacy Kokx in an 8-2 doubles victory. Sophomore Jessica Rush remained unbeaten on the year in the No. 3 singles spot with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Utah’s Sheri Esrock. NU also received strong performances on both days from Marine Piriou, Lia Jackson and Andrea Yung.
It was an especially gratifying weekend for NU senior Simona Petrutiu. Bothered by an arm injury, Petrutiu started the season with two losses at the No. 5 singles position. But after defeating BYU’s Elizaveta Khoudoiarova 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday and Utah’s Allison Hansen 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday, the Romanian native returned to the old form that earned her a 22-2 record in dual-match play last year.
“I can actually use my left arm now, and it’s not a problem to hit a backhand anymore,” Petrutiu said. “I’m playing better and better and gaining all my confidence back.”
Petrutiu closed the book on last weekend’s loss to William & Mary, emphasizing instead her optimism for the future.
“We rebounded really well from last weekend,” she said. “Everyone seems to be doing the right things right now, so the future looks really good.”
NU’s two victories may have the team feeling good about itself, but Pollard wasn’t interested in admiring her team’s play. Instead, she looked toward making the Cats stronger for upcoming matches.
“We played a little better than we had been playing before, so it’s just a slow progressive path that we’re on,” Pollard said. “But more importantly, the doubles teams need to practice and work more together. It’s just a lot of little things individually that we need to work on.”
But Pollard was proud of her team’s performance in the midst of the ceremonial opening of the Combe Tennis Center. The two women’s matches were played in a weekend filled with potentially distracting social events, including a Friday exhibition match between NU alum Todd Martin and Harvard alum James Blake, which Blake won 6-3, 7-6.
“It was easy to lose focus and forget what we were really there for,” Pollard said. “But I was pleased that we came out strong and concentrated.”
