Even on her best day, Sarah Witten was no match for Cristelle Grier.

The Kentucky senior, ranked No. 37 in the nation, was a set away from handing the Northwestern freshman her first singles defeat of the year, but was overcome in the end by the determined Grier, who won the final two sets to keep her perfect record intact at 12-0.

Despite Grier’s effort however, the No. 11 Northwestern women’s tennis team (7-5, 1-0 Big Ten) lost to No. 30 Kentucky 4-3 on Saturday in Lexington. On Sunday, they traveled by bus to take on No. 52 Indiana, winning 7-0 in Bloomington.

Grier’s match against Witten was by far her toughest challenge of the season. The freshman, ranked No. 16 in the nation, had not lost a single set in 10 previous matches. Grier said she was annoyed at herself for dropping the first set.

“It’s just a fact of life, sometimes you lose a set,” Grier said. “I made the resolution not to lose the match, and it became a dogfight after that.”

NU coach Claire Pollard attributed the team’s loss to poor doubles play, and said her team struggled at the lower positions in the line-up. Kentucky (6-4) swept all three doubles matches and jumped out to early leads by winning the first set in the first four singles matches.

“Kentucky just is not a good match up for us, their doubles were phenomenal and ours were poor,” Pollard said.

Against Indiana on Sunday, the Cats came out in full force to get their first Big Ten win of the season and extend their conference winning streak to 26 games. Pollard said she wanted her team to approach each match the same way regardless of the opponent, but she admitted that her team was more excited to play the top-ranked teams outside the Big Ten.

“It’s just more fun to play against a team where you are pushed and challenged than it is to win easily,” Pollard said.

The Cats won every singles match against Indiana (5-5, 0-2 Big Ten) in straight sets. Pollard said she was pleased with the way her team played after the long bus ride.

NU will get a break for the next two weeks before they take on No. 13 William and Mary in Evanston on March 1. Pollard said she planned to let her players rest and have regular students’ lives during the short break.

“I think the kids are going to have some fun,” Pollard said. “They are going to get five days when they don’t have to listen to me or see me.”