The members of the Northwestern women’s tennis team (12-6, 4-0Big Ten) could be playing Williams sisters or the Pointer sisters,and nothing would change. They would still look in the same placeto prepare for the competition: the mirror.
Since Claire Pollard took over as coach five seasons ago, theWildcats have maintained a remarkably consistent routine, ignoringtheir opponents and focusing on their own play every week. Theresults have been just as repetitive – the Cats head to Iowa City,Iowa with a 28-game Big Ten winning streak for their 2 p.m. matchtoday against the Hawkeyes (6-11, 2-3 Big Ten).
“I don’t think that anyone on our team could tell you anyoneelse’s record in the Big Ten,” says Pollard. “All I know is all wecan do is take care of ourselves. If we win every game, we are thebest team and that’s all that matters.”
This level-headed approach leads Pollard to dismiss thepossibility of the Cats overlooking Iowa, the 7th-place team in theBig Ten. Age represents the lone numerical advantage for theHawkeyes, who have junior Cassie Haas and senior Steffi Hoch astheir top singles players.
So far this season, however, inexperience has failed to handicapNU. Superstar freshman Cristelle Grier, ranked No. 7 in the nation,has exuded the Cats’ trademarks of dominance and consistency. Grierenters the Iowa match at the top of her game, as she boasts aschool-record 17 consecutive dual-match victories and this week’sBig Ten Women’s Co-Player of the Week award.
“It’s nice to have someone like that, and it’s aconfidence-booster for the team,” Pollard says. “But that’s oneperson, and one person can’t win a dual match by herself. We’remuch more excited about the team’s success.”
Grier has coupled with junior Jessica Rush, ranked No. 80 in thenation, to create a formidable doubles tandem. The duo has gone14-4 on the season and 4-0 in the Big Ten.
Nonetheless, doubles play is the area where NU strives for moreof its beloved consistency. In last week’s 5-2 win over Purdue, theCats dropped the doubles point despite a strong performance fromGrier and Rush.
“I think in singles we’ve got a level of consistency, but butwe’re still lacking a little bit in doubles,” Pollard says. “It’s alittle too up and down, and that’s an area for us to work on.”
Iowa enters the match coming off a 4-3 loss to Michigan lastweek, a contest in which the Hawkeyes dropped all three of theirdoubles matches.
The lineups for both teams have not been announced, but previousmatches indicate that the Cats will use a singles lineup of Grier,Rush, freshman Jamie Peisel, sophomore Andrea Yung, junior RuthBarnes and sophomore Kristi Roemer; with a doubles lineup ofGrier/Rush, Barnes/Yung and Peisel/Roemer.
Notably absent from the team’s lineup is the presence of asenior, a fact that has not altered NU’s ambition of achieving afifth consecutive Big Ten title.
“There’s more development and more of a learning curve involved,but you can’t use inexperience as an excuse,” Pollard says. “Theyhave been recruited here because they are great players, and theywill get the job done.”
