At the Northwestern women’s tennis practice Wednesday, coachClaire Pollard announced that the players needed to focus on twothings in this weekend’s matches: hitting all shots off their frontfeet and staying positive.
Pollard’s goals will guide the 10th-ranked Wildcats throughtheir final two regular season matches, against No. 29 Michigan(14-4, 5-3 Big Ten) on Saturday and Michigan State (8-11, 3-5) onSunday. An optimistic attitude would help push the Cats through theweekend to the Big Ten tournament, which starts Thursday at NU.
“It’s the little things that matter now,” Pollard said. “Hittingoff the front foot makes us look more aggressive and it gives usmore power, and being positive is always important.”
The Cats would have plenty to be cheerful about if they wontheir games this weekend. Pollard would reach the 200-win mark, andthe conference title is on the line.
The Cats (18-4, 7-1) are tied with Indiana for second place inthe Big Ten, behind Illinois (8-1 Big Ten). The Fighting Illini andthe Hoosiers will meet this weekend, and one will keep the otherout of the top position. If Cats win both their matches, they willtie Illinois or Indiana for first place in the conference.
“We really want to play well this weekend and carry our momentuminto the tournament next week,” Connie Chiang said. “I think we’reall particularly excited because the tournament is here. But thisweekend we’re going to focus on our individual play and not lookpast these teams.”
Pollard said all the teams are trying to beat the Cats becauseof their dominance, but Michigan in particular might be achallenge.
“I thought at the beginning of the season that Michigan would beone of the toughest teams in our league,” Pollard said. “I’m notreally sure why that hasn’t transpired yet. But they willdefinitely be after us.”
Most teams play their best against the Cats because of theirhigh rank, Pollard said.
“Michigan should probably be really excited to play us becausewe beat them twice last season, including in the tournament,” JamieProusis said. “They’ll be looking for revenge.”
The Cats have not lost since they faced Illinois on April 4, andplayers are excited at the prospect of a strong finish.
“We really want to end the regular season with a big bang,”Alexis Prousis said.
