Women’s Tennis
It’s written in bold, purple letters with gray trim on a piece of whitewashed metal at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center: “Big Ten Champions Women’s Tennis 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.” One championship for every year of coach Claire Pollard’s reign.
Behind those digits are even more telling figures of the hold No. 2 Northwestern (21-2, 10-0 Big Ten) has over its conference.
Six, the number of Big Ten losses in Pollard’s six years as coach.
Nineteen, the number of Big Ten opponents the Cats have beaten in a row.
Thirteen, the number of Big Ten opponents the Cats have shut out in the last three years.
There’s a word in the sports world for this type of long-term dominance: dynasty.
“I don’t think that we think we’re invincible,” Pollard said. “I just think we’ve built quite a reputation.”
The rise from bowing out to Indiana in the 1998 Big Ten tournament to becoming untouchable was meteoric.
Pollard said a big factor in the Cats’ impeccable record is the underachievement of the teams around them.
“Some teams I thought potentially could have really good years this year just couldn’t get it done,” Pollard said. “I don’t know if this is going to be a trend. We hope everyone gets better.”
Pollard also said the academic prestige of NU helped bring prize recruits and widen the gap between NU and the rest of the conference.
“We’ve really been able to use academic reputation in recruiting,” she said. “We focus on it and really feel like it’s one of our big selling points.”
Senior Andrea Yung knows all about NU’s pull.
Coming from California, she wanted to enroll in a school that was academically sound and said she was “not thinking about tennis too much.”
After weighing it against Ivy League counterparts, Yung decided NU was a good fit for her.
“NU offered pretty good academics, and they’re Division I, big-time college athletics,” she said. “I felt like it would be a good combination.”
Although she admits the Big Ten is not too competitive when compared with other conferences, Yung said she has seen an increase in the level of competition during her four years.
“The quality of the players has gotten so much better,” she said. “Since we’re setting somewhat of an example, I guess they’re doing their best to try and keep up.”
But the prestige of the program alone hasn’t accounted for six straight Big Ten championships and the Cats’ stranglehold on the top of the standings.
Yung said the team can sense a defeated mindset in their opponents almost from the moment they take the court.
“People are really intimidated by us, but it’s not a superficial thing,” she said. “They know we’re winners and good competitors.”
This weekend, the Cats head to East Lansing, Mich., the site of winning their 1999 title, trying to extend the conference championship streak to seven.
Despite the distinct possibility of success, Pollard said the team knows the perils of overconfidence.
“The other coaches are saying, ‘You know what, guys? We only have to beat them once,'” she said. “If I was one of those coaches, that’s what I’d be selling.”
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