Northwestern women’s tennis coach Claire Pollard knew her team had gained national recognition when other teams at the NCAA championships stopped congratulating her.
“They’re not coming up and saying, ‘Good job,’ which they do when you’re first there,” Pollard said. “Now they’re thinking ‘Northwestern, yeah, we expected them to be here.’ It’s a good feeling.”
The 2002 season greatly resembled the Wildcats’ 2001 campaign. In both years, NU went undefeated in the Big Ten, hosted an NCAA regional and advanced to the Sweet 16, where it lost to a higher seed.
In 2002, Pollard’s fourth season, the Cats claimed their fourth straight Big Ten title and returned to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row. NU lost to national No. 1 and eventual runner-up Florida in the Round of 16 in Stanford, Calif.
The Cats continued their dominance in the Big Ten, going undefeated in conference play for the second straight season and extending their league winning streak to 25. Only much-improved Wisconsin gave NU a scare, as the Cats needed a three-set victory from Ruth Barnes at the No. 6 spot to clinch a 4-3 win April 13.
The Badgers got another chance at NU in the finals of the Big Ten championships, but the Cats clinched the title with a 4-1 victory.
“Repeating as Big Ten champs was one of the highlights of the season,” Pollard said. “Although we established ourselves as the best team in the regular season, winning a championship is a big thing for anyone.”
NU, ranked No. 15 in the country at the time, was selected to host one of 16 NCAA regionals. Illinois-Chicago, Wisconsin and Notre Dame came to Evanston May 11-12 for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. No NU player lost a match over the weekend, as the Cats beat the Flames in the first round and the Badgers in the second, for their third victory over Wisconsin this season.
The Cats then came close to upsetting Florida, as they took three singles matches to a third set after falling behind 3-0. NU’s Simona Petrutiu won at the No. 4 spot, but the Gators’ Lindsay Dawaf finished off Lia Jackson at No. 2 to eliminate the Cats.
Although the team tournament was over for NU, the Cats had players in both the NCAA singles and doubles tournaments. NU’s top singles player, Marine Piriou, advanced to the second round in singles, and the doubles team of Piriou and Jessica Rush lost in the first round.
Playing in a league that has no teams in the nation’s top 25 other than itself, NU had difficulty facing Florida, one of the nation’s elite programs.
“I think this year the Big Ten was a lot stronger, but it’s still nice sometimes if you can get a little more preparation,” Petrutiu said. “It took us a little while to raise our level up to theirs, but it was just a little too late and they took advantage.”
Petrutiu, who needed wrist surgery early in the season, gradually improved throughout her senior year to become arguably the Cats’ most consistent player.
“I think I’m really fortunate because I wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to play,” she said. “I was just happy to be on the court instead of sitting on the sidelines.”
Pollard said doubles and the play of Piriou and Rush were two of the season’s bright spots. Big Ten Player of the Year Piriou made the jump from the No. 4 spot in 2001 to No. 1 in 2002, and Rush moved from No. 6 to No. 3. Both posted 9-1 records in Big Ten play.
“I felt I saw a lot of growth in Jessica Rush moving from six to three and having maybe the best season of everyone,” Pollard said.
Although they left Stanford still looking for their first berth in the Elite Eight, Pollard and the Cats aren’t disappointed with their 23-6 season. But a win over Florida would have given the Cats more than just national recognition.
“I look back and we pretty much accomplished all of our goals,” Jackson said. “We were pretty happy but not completely satisfied. I felt that it really would’ve helped the program if we could have beat Florida, but we weren’t able to pull it out. Maybe next year.”
