After dominating Purdue’s Gretchen Haynor in straight sets 6-1, 6-0, Northwestern freshman tennis player Cristelle Grier was asked how she could be beaten.
“They would have to want it more than I do,” she said.
So far this season none of Grier’s opponents has even come close to matching her desire to win. The No. 7-ranked player in the nation extended her winning streak to 17-0 on Sunday, breaking the NU record for consecutive wins. Lia Jackson held the previous record with 16 in 2000.
Following Grier’s lead, the No. 27 Wildcats defeated Purdue 5-2 Sunday in Evanston. NU beat No. 31 Texas 4-3 in Austin on March 27, and swept No. 17 Illinois 7-0 on March 29 to go 3-0 after a two-week hiatus from competition. The Cats’ record now stands at 12-6 overall, with a 4-0 record in Big Ten play.
Absent again from competition was Northwestern’s Marine Piriou, last year’s Big Ten player of the year. She has not participated in any matches since the fall for personal reasons. NU coach Claire Pollard said Sunday that the senior, who occupied the No. 1 spot in the fall, will not contribute for the rest of the season but declined to comment further.
Pollard said winning the doubles point was the key to victory against Illinois (10-4, 3-1). All three doubles matches were decided by tiebreaker, and NU came out on top with a 9-8 victory by the No. 1 doubles pair of Grier and Jessica Rush. Pollard said her team had an extra incentive to win because of Illinois’ No. 17 ranking.
“They are the easiest team to get psyched up for in the Big Ten,” Pollard said, “They come at you so hard that you know you’ve got to be mentally prepared.”
All but one of NU’s wins against the Illini came in straight sets.
Although the Cats won solidly on Sunday against Purdue (6-9, 1-3 Big Ten), Pollard was less pleased with her team’s performance against the Boilermakers.
Pollard said her team was expecting an easy match but came out flat, perhaps due to its rigorous spring break practice schedule.
NU lost the doubles point to Purdue when the No. 2 doubles pair Andrea Yung and Ruth Barnes lost a 7-5 tiebreaker.
“We got what we deserved,” Pollard said, “We lost a point and that’s a good lesson for us.”
Pollard said she was proudest of Barnes in Sunday’s match. The junior defeated her Purdue opponent, Lara Burgarello, 7-5, 6-0 at the No. 5 position. Pollard said the combination of difficult shots made by Barnes along with her stable emotional composure were particularly impressive.
“She’s beginning to use her emotion to her advantage,” Pollard said.
Also contributing straight set wins for NU were Rush at No. 2, freshman Jamie Peisel at No. 3 and Yung at No. 4. Sophomore Kristi Roemer was the only NU player to drop a point in the singles competition, losing 3-6, 3-6 at the No. 6 position.
With the Big Ten season well underway, Pollard said she will slightly modify the team’s lineup in its quest for a fifth consecutive Big Ten title. So far she has swapped Peisel and Yung at the 3 and 4 slots.
“As a coach you have to balance, stability and hope,” Pollard said.
Next up for the Cats are four-straight road matches against Big Ten foes, beginning with Iowa on April 4 and Minnesota two days later.
