The Intercollegiate Tennis Association will probably want to rethink its ranking for the Northwestern women’s tennis team after this weekend.
The sixth-ranked Wildcats swept both the Hoosiers and the Nittany Lions 7-0 in two home matches Saturday and Sunday.
The two wins bring the team’s shutout record to five in a row, its winning streak to six and overall record to 13-3 for the season and 5-0 in the Big Ten.
NU and Indiana entered their Saturday match 3-0 in the Big Ten, but only NU came out this weekend retaining an undefeated status.
Senior Feriel Esseghir filled in at No. 1 doubles with senior Cristelle Grier against the Hoosiers as an IT-band injury forced junior Alexis Prousis to watch from the stands.
“I tweaked it during practice,” Prousis said with an extra lumpy bag of ice strapped to her left thigh. “It feels alright now, and I’m doing physical therapy. I’m happy with how it’s improving.”
Sophomore Alexis Conill partnered up with freshman Georgia Rose as part of the doubles play shuffle. The pair went on to beat Indiana 8-6 at the No. 2 spot.
With all three doubles matches going to NU and the doubles point clinched, the Cats rampaged through singles, starting with Grier’s 6-0, 6-0 shutout at No. 2.
At No. 3 singles, the knee brace seemed more like decoration as Prousis ploughed through her match, finishing 6-0, 6-2.
“I’m really happy with how I performed,” Prousis said. “I felt good out there. My knee wasn’t really bothering me too much at all.”
Esseghir took her singles match 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5 followed by Rose’s 7-6, 6-0 victory at the No. 1 spot, her 19th consecutive singles victory for the season.
Senior Jamie Peisel won 7-6, 6-4 at the No. 4 spot and freshman Nazlie Ghazal won 7-5, 6-1 at No. 6, sealing the fourth 7-0 victory for the Cats.
“I was really pleased,” Grier said. “I was pleased with the consistency and how we really kept up on things. (We) kept the offensive position and got to the win early.”
Twenty-three hours and one daylight-savings change later, the Cats returned to Combe Tennis Center to take on yet another conference rival, Penn State.
Coach Claire Pollard stuck with her doubles line-up and the consistency paid off. Conill and Rose at No. 2 finished first, winning 8-2, followed by Peisel and Ghazal’s 8-3 win at No. 3. Grier and Esseghir tied off the winning streak nicely with an 8-6 victory at No. 1.
In singles, Prousis sat out against the Nittany Lions and the rest of the line-up moved up one spot with Conill filling in at No. 6. Again, Grier finished first in singles at the No. 2 spot, cruising past Penn State’s Andreea Niculescu, 6-0, 6-2.
Rose finished next, beating Penn State’s Sasha Abraham 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot for her 20th straight singles victory this season. Ghazal won 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5 singles, and Conill dominated her first singles appearance this year, winning 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6.
The two seniors picked up the final pieces of the sweep. Peisel won her match 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3, and Esseghir came out on top of a three set battle, winning 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8).
The Cats bring their hot streak on the road this week as they travel to South Bend, Ind., to take on Notre Dame on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Reach Diane at [email protected].
