Consider the rust gone.
“I think we shook it off and some more,” Northwestern women’s tennis coach Claire Pollard said. “I thought we played pretty darn well considering how long we’ve been off.”
NU opened its spring schedule at home last weekend with the Wildcat Duals at the Combe Tennis Center. In what was supposed to be a simple tune-up for the coming season, the Wildcats showed why they are the country’s No. 5 squad by taking 22 of 24 doubles and singles matches.
“We started off a lot slower than we usually do,” freshman Audra Cohen said. “It really wears on you, sitting around and waiting to play … Overall, our competition was not amazing, but we did what we had to do to get it done.”
NU finished 9-0 on Friday, the first day of the three-day competition. The Cats swept their doubles matches against Penn State and singles matches against Illinois-Chicago, despite using neither nationally ranked No. 1 Cohen nor No. 4 Cristelle Grier.
The two saw their first action in singles play Saturday. Cohen, who had not competed since October, didn’t lose a point in decimating Wisconsin’s No. 52 Katie McGaffigan, 6-0, 6-0.
Grier followed suit in defeating the Badgers’ Caitlin Burke in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.
The No. 1 doubles team of Grier and Cohen didn’t compete until Sunday and faced a stiff challenge from No. 27 McGaffigan and Lindsay Martin. The two teams traded points, but Cohen and Grier eventually prevailed, 8-6.
“I was pleased with how I played,” Grier said. “Doubles was really rusty, but we came out with a win.”
The duo also was victorious in singles play on Sunday, as they each won their matches in straight sets. Grier fell behind Penn State’s Maaria Husain 4-3 in the second set, but managed to rally and close out the match.
Cohen, who also was challenged in singles Sunday, felt that the day-long tournament was draining and may have contributed to NU’s intially sluggish performance.
The best performer for the Cats may have been NU’s other freshman, Alexis Conill. Conill won a third-set tiebreaker 10-3 against Wisconsin’s Lexi Goldin after dropping the first set 6-0, sealing her third singles victory of the weekend.
Conill also teamed with junior Jamie Piesel to defeat Kristine Harclerode and Andrea Nicolescu of Penn State in doubles action Friday.
Piesel also played a doubles match with Cohen on Saturday. The pair easily defeated Illinois-Chicago’s Melanie Humphrey and Iris Jaklin, 8-2.
The success of all the players proved that NU isn’t a two-headed dragon.
“We saw just how deep a team we have and how many options we have,” Pollard said. “That was, by far, the most overwhelming positive of the weekend.”
Still, the Cats are taking nothing for granted.
“We still have to go in there with respect for our opponents,” Cohen said. “They’re not going to care that we’re Northwestern. They’re going to come in here and fight their asses off.”
Reach David Kalan at [email protected].
