NU finishes atop Big Ten
Coach earns 200th win as Cats beat 2 conference foes
By Sarah Bailey
The Daily Northwestern
After finishing second in the Big Ten last season, the 10th-ranked Northwestern women’s tennis team blew past No. 29 Michigan this weekend and finished atop the conference for the fifth time in six years.
“We were disappointed to let the title slip away last year,” coach Claire Pollard said. “We weren’t going to let that happen again.”
Pollard earned her 200th career win in the 4-3 come-from-behind victory against Michigan on Saturday. After Sunday’s 6-1 win against Michigan State, she is 201-93 overall, and 130-34 with the Wildcats.
“I’m not really big on the numbers,” Pollard said. “But I think it’s a statement of how great the players are at NU and how lucky I am to be here coaching them.”
Pollard’s players said she deserves more credit.
“Claire gives me something to play for,” sophomore Jamie Peisel said. “She has really high expectations of us all. When I first came in, she really believed in me and expected a lot from me, so I thought I had a lot to live up to right away. She really pushes us all to play our best, and I see myself getting better all the time.”
Peisel and her teammates pushed themselves through their final two regular season matches this weekend to clinch the No. 1 conference ranking, which they share with Indiana. The Cats (20-4, 9-1 Big Ten) entered the weekend in second place, behind Illinois. But Indiana (17-6, 9-1) defeated the Fighting Illini on Saturday, knocking them off the top.
The Cats beat the Hoosiers earlier in the season, so they will carry the top seed heading into Thursday’s Big Ten championships, hosted by NU.
The Cats had to battle through a tight match with Michigan (15-5, 6-4) to earn that spot. NU lost the doubles point before pulling out some close wins in singles.
“Michigan did a great job in doubles,” Pollard said. “They really outplayed us. It took a lot of resilience to come back and win those four singles matches.”
NU found itself with a 3-0 deficit after losses by Jessica Rush and Ruth Barnes at the No. 2 and No. 6 positions. But Cristelle Grier, the nation’s second-ranked player, put the Cats on the scoreboard with a 6-2, 6-3, win over No. 57 Michelle DaCosta.
The Cats won the remaining singles matches, and Peisel finally clinched the match with a tiebreaker win.
“Grier came through with a typical great performance,” Pollard said. “It’s really something we’ve come to expect and enjoy. And Perky (Peisel) came through big for us again in the clutch.”
In a less intense match, the Cats secured their top ranking with a win over Michigan State (8-13, 3-7) on Sunday.
The Cats swept doubles and picked up decisive wins in singles. Only Andrea Yung lost, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) at the No. 5 spot.
“It was a fairly comfortable victory,” Pollard said. “But I thought we were a little more competitive in that and we wanted to win the regular season Big Ten championship.”
Now Pollard said she is ready to enter the conference tournament, and she knows her team is too.
“The regular season is tons of fun, but it’s sort of drawn out,” she said. “Now it’s 0-0 going into the weekend, and that’s really exciting.
“It’s a whole new ball game. And when you’ve experienced victory like we have, you want that taste in our mouth again.”
