Perfect. Unblemished. Flawless.
For the past two seasons, these words have been synonymous with Northwestern women’s tennis.
The Wildcats completed their second straight undefeated conference campaign over the weekend with victories over Penn State and Ohio State, clinching the No. 1 seed for this weekend’s Big Ten tournament. The two wins extended the No. 14 Cats’ conference winning streak to 25 matches.
“It definitely gives us a lot of confidence because we’re going to the tourney and we’re regular season champs,” senior Lia Jackson said. “We know we’re No. 1 but we still have to go out and prove ourselves.”
Any thoughts of a Penn State upset were put to rest early by NU (18-5, 10-0 Big Ten), which won two of three to take the doubles point on Saturday – and never looked back. The Cats were even stronger in singles competition, winning across the board for a 7-0 sweep. The 10th-place Lady Lions dropped to 6-12 and 1-8 in the conference.
Ohio State (18-5, 7-3) was the last Big Ten team to beat NU, defeating the Cats more than two years ago on April 8, 2000. NU squashed any chance of a repeat, sweeping the No. 35 Buckeyes for its second shutout of the weekend.
Ohio State sent No. 64 Monica Rincon and No. 80 Erica Fisk at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots, but NU’s Marine Piriou and Jackson came through with straight-set victories. NU lost just three sets in singles play over the weekend.
NU head coach Claire Pollard ranked the win over the second-place Buckeyes among the strongest of the season.
“I though today was one of the best matches we’ve played all year,” Pollard said. “After about an hour in singles I looked around and everyone was really positive and displaying the body language of a championship-caliber team. I thought we were really coming together.
“Like every weekend, we did a good job of preparing. It was sweet to finish undefeated in the Big Ten.”
The Cats finished their regular season with seven straight wins and haven’t lost since a March 27 match against Pepperdine. NU followed a similar path last season, when they won their last six regular-season matches en route to a Big Ten tournament title and a Sweet 16 appearance.
The importance of peaking at the right time certainly isn’t lost on Pollard, who earlier stressed the importance of having every player at the top of her game heading into the postseason.
If the victories over Penn State and Ohio State are any indication, the Cats are again hitting their stride in the most important part of the season.
“I think I’m definitely getting better and better. I’m really happy with how I’m playing right now,” NU senior Simona Petrutiu said. “It’s really good to go into the tournament beating two good teams and with all of us playing well.”
