While many students spent spring break drinking cocktails on a Caribbean beach, No. 2 Northwestern (11-2, 3-0 Big Ten) spent time in heavy rain and learned important lessons. But one member rediscovered a nagging back injury and, unfortunately for NU, the injured party was No. 3 Audra Cohen.
“I sat down at the break and my body got too cold,” said Cohen. “I stood up and I just looked at my coach and I just was like, ‘Oh my God, my whole back just locked up.'”
Cohen injured her back during her singles match against then-No. 24 California (11-3), which upset the Wildcats 4-2 on March 23.
The loss tempered an otherwise successful break which saw the Cats rebound to beat No. 39 Michigan (6-8, 1-2) and Michigan State (10-5, 0-3) Saturday and Sunday. Alexis Prousis went 5-0 in her doubles and singles matches during the break, for which she was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week on Thursday.
NU visits Bloomington, Ind., to face No. 36 Indiana (9-7, 3-0) today before continuing on to University Park, Pa., where the Cats will face Penn State (5-7, 0-3) Sunday.
The match against California, which boosted the Golden Bears to No. 17, had been scheduled a day earlier, but heavy rains forced the match to be delayed and rained out the doubles matches. The Cats dropped four of the six singles matches for their second loss of the season.
“We’ve been getting by with winning the doubles point and winning at one through four, and not really winning at five and six,” said coach Claire Pollard. “Five and six lost very quickly again, and we didn’t survive … I think it sort of really was the wake-up call that we can’t survive the way we were going with winning the doubles and only having four chances.”
Cohen’s back went stiff after her first set. The injury, a spondy in her third vertebrae, dates back to her sophomore year of high school.
While her back has bothered her since the match against California, it did not prevent her and doubles partner Cristelle Grier from staging an impressive comeback against No. 39 Michigan.
The No. 1-ranked duo faced a 7-3 deficit and match point against the Wolverines’ No. 13 tandem of Michelle DaCosta and Kara Delicata, before reeling off six straight games to win the match 9-7.
“We weren’t really communicating as well as we usually do,” said Grier. “At 7-3 I think we really realized what a dire situation we were in, and we just said we’ve got a game left to prove what we can do.”
The comeback spurred the team to a 5-2 victory. NU carried the momentum over to its match against Michigan State the next day, which it won handily, 6-1.
The day before its upset loss to California, NU was ranked No. 2 in the country, which is the highest ranking in school history.
Undefeated Stanford currently holds the top spot.
The Cats now enter the bulk of the Big Ten season.
“When you look at it on paper this part of our season is the easier part of our season,” Cohen said.
NU plays eight Big Ten foes in the next 23 days, leading up to the Big Ten championship later this month, an event that has become old hat for the Cats.
“Hopefully we’re going to try and win it for another umpteenth time in a row,” said Grier.
If NU were to win again this year it would be its seventh consecutive championship.
“Seven it is, I lost count.”
Reach David Kalan at [email protected].
