To make it into the NCAA Tournament, progress is not a substitute for results.
This weekend marks the midway point of the Big Ten season for No. 58 Northwestern (13-6, 1-3 Big Ten), and wins against Purdue (6-10, 0-4) and No. 24 Wisconsin (13-5, 2-2) would help keep alive the possibility of making the NCAA Tournament.
After splitting their two Big Ten matches last weekend, the Wildcats got a day off on Monday to recuperate before the final few weekends of conference play. The team practiced indoors and outdoors to prepare for either case.
NU’s 4-3 loss to Michigan on Sunday was decided by only a few points. Despite the disappointing loss, coach Arvid Swan said the team refuses to get frustrated.
“This is a very resilient team,” Swan said. “We’re putting ourselves in a position to win, it’s obviously disappointing when we don’t win, but our team is going to stay positive and continue to try to compete hard and win matches. We’re encouraged by the way we keep getting better.”
At the same time, there is a sense of urgency among the players that winning now is important to remain in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament, a year after going winless in conference play.
“We know we need to get a win here in order to stay competitive,” senior Marc Dwyer said. “We still have a lot of critical matches coming up. From our results we know that every single match we can win. It’s just that if we don’t come out and all play together, we can lose too.”
Although Purdue has yet to win a Big Ten match this season, Swan said he expects a tough match whenever NU plays a conference opponent. The Boilermakers lost 4-3 to both then-No. 11 Illinois and then-No. 45 Penn State.
The Badgers have also played well in both their wins and their losses in the Big Ten. Wisconsin dropped back-to-back 4-3 decisions to Illinois and Indiana on the road, but has taken care of business at home, beating Michigan 4-3 and Michigan State 6-1.
The Cats had beaten the Badgers at least 13 years in a row before losing 7-0 last year. Dwyer said the match against Wisconsin is always heated because of the proximity of the schools and the familiarity of the players.
“We just don’t want to lose again, plain and simple,” Dwyer said. “We can’t afford to lose, because that just means that other people gain on us because they beat them, and we can’t let that happen.”
NU has come up one point short in all of its conference losses, and the deciding factor has been the doubles point. Swan said practice this week was geared toward improving the teamwork of the recently changed doubles teams, as well as working on specific areas on an individual basis.
Dwyer now teams with junior Alex Sanborn at first doubles. The duo logged the only win at doubles against Michigan and is 3-1 since the two were paired together.
“We switched up the teams four matches ago, and that was a good move,” Dwyer said. “Doubles is coming along very well, and everyone’s playing well together right now.”
NU squares off against Purdue on the road today and then hosts Wisconsin on Saturday. With the tough loss to the Wolverines fresh in their mind, the Cats are looking for redemption.
“Everyone is optimistic,” Dwyer said. “Everyone’s looking forward to playing. We definitely think we should go out there and win.”
