It’s not every year the Wildcats defeat top-flight foes on consecutive days. But it’s not every year the No. 5 Cats boast this kind of talent.
Northwestern knocked off No. 16 Texas A&M (1-2) and No. 14 Kentucky (3-1) last weekend, improving to 3-0.
In unseasonably cold weather, NU shut down Texas A&M, 5-2, on Saturday in College Station, Texas.
“I was really pleased with the way we handled it,” NU coach Claire Pollard said. “For us to win a championship, we’re going to have to face tough or difficult situations and rise to the occasion.”
The No. 1 doubles tandem of freshman Audra Cohen and junior Cristelle Grier faced the Aggies’ No. 28 duo of sophomore Anna Lubinsky and senior Helga Vieira.
Lubinsky and Vieira defeated the preseason No. 1 pair of Dianne Hollands and Maja Mlaker in November, but did not live up to their billing as Cohen and Grier trounced them, 8-0, in frigid conditions.
“Our hands were numb,” Cohen said. “We just disciplined ourselves on doing the basics and doing it well and trying to get off the court as quickly as possible. They obviously weren’t as prepared as we were.”
In the second slot, sophomore Alexis Prousis and senior Kristi Roemer downed Tiffany Clifford and Lauren Walker, 8-3, while the third spot had junior Jamie Peisel and grad student Valerie Vladea easily beat freshmen Anna Blagodarova and Marisa Druss, 8-2.
Despite being overmatched in doubles, the Aggies opened singles by taking leads in four of six matches, but the Cats proved too strong.
No. 4 Grier, in the top slot for the first time this season, clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Vieira.
By then No. 1 Cohen, in the second spot, had easily defeated Lubinsky 6-1, 6-2. In the fourth spot, Vladea held Clifford at bay with a 6-1, 6-2 win.
NU’s last win came in the third spot, where No. 49 Prousis rebounded after losing the first set to defeat Blagodarova, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
NU dropped two in the fifth spot where Druss knocked off junior Feriel Esseghir 6-1, 7-6 (3), and in the sixth spot where junior Seva Iwinski beat Peisel 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (8).
Rain on Sunday moved play indoors to Bryan, Texas. NU defeated Kentucky 4-1 on the strength of Prousis and Roemer upsetting the No. 11 team of sophomores Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk, 8-5.
Cohen and Grier struggled against the No. 6 pair of senior Aibika Kalsarieva and sophomore Sarah Foster quickly falling to a 4-0 deficit, but managed to pull out a tough 9-7 victory.
The other doubles match saw Piesel and Vladea easily defeat sophomores Lara Maurer and Christine Simpson, 8-2.
In singles, Cohen downed No. 7 Kalsarieva in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, in her first singles challenge of the season.
“To come out with the ‘W’ is spectacular,” Cohen said.
Grier, in the second spot, trailed 3-0 to start the second set before rattling off six straight games to beat No. 30 Foster, 6-4, 6-3. In the third spot, Prousis fell to No. 58 Coventry in NU’s lone loss of the day 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, while Vladea, in the fourth spot defeated Schwenk, 6-4, 6-2.
In the fifth spot, Peisel and Maurer were tied at 5-5, while freshman Alexis Conill led junior Danielle Petrisko 4-3 in the sixth spot before both matches were called because NU had a flight to catch.
Reach David Kalan at [email protected].
