This weekend, the Wildcats will compete in their final tournament of the regular season at Purdue in the Big Ten Championships.
The Cats have carried strong momentum throughout the season, struggling only with consistency, which they hope to correct this weekend.
“The girls have made great improvements,” coach Emily Fletcher said. “And I hope to see them carry their recent successes through Big Tens.”
The Cats finished seventh in last year’s Big Ten Championships, but hope for a top-three finish this year. No. 11 Purdue, the reigning conference champions and recent Lady Buckeye champions, Ohio State, are the teams to beat for NU to secure a title.
“Purdue is a really strong team, and so is Ohio State, but (if) we could beat Michigan State and Indiana again and finish third, that would be amazing,” sophomore Rebecca Lederhausen said.
Last weekend, the Cats demonstrated their strengths at the Lady Buckeye, where they took fourth place. NU surpassed Indiana and Michigan State, but fell to Ohio State, Kent State and Washington.
For senior Jennifer Hong, this is the last tournament of her regular season college career, and she hopes to go out on a strong note.
“I grew up in Indiana, so I’ve played this course many times,” said Hong. “I know it really well. I feel very confident about this weekend, and I have a good attitude going into it, so I hope that I can keep my focus and finish my college career strong.”
After leading the Cats individually last weekend, Lederhausen hopes to keep her game consistent and keep up her long game.
“I would like to see myself keep my focus for every round and continue hitting the ball as well as I have been,” Lederhausen said. “For the team, I think we’ve been playing really well, but if we could just stay consistent and play strong through the final rounds, I think we could have a really great finish.”
NU is currently in West Lafayette, Ind., and played a practice round Thursday in preparation for its tee-off on Friday morning.
“We’ve had tons of rain down here, so the course is playing pretty long and tough,” Fletcher said. “But that can bode well for us, we’ll just be patient. We had a good practice round, and I think we’re ready.”
