After losing a 4-3 home contest to No. 11 William and Mary on Saturday, frustrated Northwestern women’s tennis coach Claire Pollard exited the team’s meeting room.
“I’m sick of losing 4-3,” she said. “It’s getting tiresome.”
The loss marked the fifth match the Wildcats (8-6, 1-0 Big Ten) have dropped this season by a single point. All of the single-point losses have come against top-20 teams.
Earlier in the year, Pollard singled out the team’s inconsistent doubles play as the main reason her team was unable to come out on top against the nation’s elite teams. Against William and Mary (9-3), NU lost the doubles point as junior Ruth Barnes and sophomore Andrea Yung were the only NU pair able to score a victory.
Pollard said she was disappointed with the play of the No. 1 doubles pair — freshman Cristelle Grier and junior Jessica Rush — but added that both have played very well in their singles matches.
“We are a little too predictable at the No. 1 doubles for my liking,” Pollard said. “When things aren’t going well on the court, we don’t change it up.”
In the singles competition NU split its matches with the Tribe. Grier, who is 13-0 on the season and ranked No. 6 in the nation, had a rare close match against No. 21-ranked Candice Fuchs. After trailing 1-4 in the first set, Fuchs briefly took a 5-4 lead before Grier closed out the set, 7-5, and easily won the second set, 6-2.
Grier said she needed to adjust her style midway through the match.
“I started hitting it hard and flat back to her before Claire told me to hit shots with more spin,” Grier said.
Rush and freshman Jamie Peisel also won singles matches for the Cats. Rush beat Megan Muth to improve her singles record to 9-4.
Yung and sophomore Kristi Roemer lost, tying the score at 3-3. That left junior Ruth Barnes in position to win the match for NU. But Barnes couldn’t convert, losing to Amy Wei 6-3, 6-4.
Despite the loss, Barnes said she was pleased with her effort — and that the extra pressure did not affect her play.
“Whether there are a lot of people watching or not I can’t control,” Barnes said, “The only thing I can control is how hard I work.”
On Sunday at Marquette (1-10), Pollard shuffled her line-up, giving Grier a rest and moving the other singles players up one position. Pollard said she hoped the change would give her players tougher matches and provide more experience for Roemer and junior Stacy Kokx, who have split time at the No. 6 position.
Pollard’s changes paid off. NU beat Marquette 5-2, and Kokx and Roemer both won their matches in straight sets. Pollard said the extra playing time would add to her team’s depth.
“It’s better for the whole team to play up once in a while,” Pollard said.
