After knocking down both Illinois-Chicago and No. 43 Purdue this weekend, Northwestern gears up for a trip out west to compete in the Sweet 16 of the NCAAs.
A favored No. 9 NU swept the UIC Flames with two 8-0 doubles match victories and wins at the No. 4, 5 and 6 singles Friday.
“I was pleased we sustained a good level out there,” coach Clair Pollard said about the easy win against Illinois-Chicago. “It was just a little better than UIC could handle. Now we can rest up and see who we play (Saturday).”
After taking the Horizon League champions out of the running, the Cats waited for No. 17 Harvard to do the same with Purdue, a team that has yet to claim an NCAA victory.
But the Boilermakers jolted the brackets when it beat Harvard 4-2, taking the doubles point and the match with a win at No. 1 singles, the last match of the day.
So while Saturday’s match was supposed to be Ivy League versus Big Ten, Purple versus Crimson, Northwestern’s Georgia Rose versus Harvard’s Eva Wang, a persistent Purdue apparently didn’t get the memo and Harvard’s season ended.
“We knew it was going to be a good match between both of them,” NU freshman Georgia Rose said about the Harvard- Purdue match. “I knew whatever happened, we were going to have a tough match Saturday.”
For the third time this season, NU rallied against Purdue. The Cats took away the doubles point fairly easy, winning 8-3 at No. 3 and then 8-2 at No. 1. But when it came to singles, the Boilermakers had a lot more adrenaline.