Player of the Year – Maria Mosolova
Even though she held the nation’s top individual ranking for much of the season and won her second-consecutive Big Ten Player of the Year award, Mosolova’s biggest impact on the Wildcats may have come in doubles.
She teamed with senior Keri Robison to form Northwestern’s No. 2 doubles team. The duo went 21-2 in dual-match doubles play this season, helping the Cats to win all but one doubles point during the regular season. Mosolova and Robison also qualified for this season’s NCAA doubles tournament, as one of the nation’s 32 best doubles teams. Robison said throughout the season, “There isn’t anyone else I’d rather have on my side of the net.”
There’s probably no one the Cats would rather have holding down the No. 1 spot in singles play, either. One of Mosolova’s best wins came against then-No. 3 Notre Dame. She rebounded from a 4-2 deficit in the second set to defeat No. 35 Kelcy Tefft and clinch the 4-3 win for the Cats. Overall, Mosolova put together a 36-8 record, including a perfect 7-0 record in Big Ten play. Her season ended in the quarterfinals of the NCAA singles tournament, an ever she started as the No. 1 overall seed.
Biggest Win – NU 4, Georgia 1 – February 16, Finals of the Indoor Team Championships
In a season filled with big victories, no win was more important than NU’s victory over Georgia in the finals of the Indoor Team Championships. NU became the first Big Ten team to win the indoor title in the 22-year history of the event. In the process, the Cats beat four of the top six seeds in the NCAA tournament, including eventual NCAA champion Duke.
NU had to battle for the doubles point against Georgia. After Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui lost, 8-4, at first doubles, Samantha Murray and Elena Chernyakova grabbed an 8-1 win at third doubles. The doubles point came down to a back-and-forth matchup at second doubles, where Mosolova and Robison finally prevailed with a 9-8 win. Rose, Lui and Murray then quickly closed the match out with straight-set singles victories.
The run to the Indoor Team Championships crown validated NU’s top ranking, and established the Cats as the team to beat on the road to the NCAA title in May.
Biggest Loss – California 4, NU 2 – May 17, NCAA Quarterfinals.
No. 1 NU’s dreams of a national title were dashed by Cal for the second-consecutive year. For only the second time all season, NU failed to win the doubles point.
The Golden Bears kept building momentum, grabbing quick leads in four of the six singles matches, and it looked as if the Cats season would end quickly.
NU fought back, eventually tying the score at two, with three matches still in play. But the Golden Bears were too much, ending the Cats’ comeback with wins at second and third singles. NU has made three trips to the quarterfinals in the past four years, but the team has yet to advance to the semifinals.
This year marked one of the Cats’ best chances to move on, as the team returned five starters from last season’s quarterfinal qualifiers. Even with that experience, NU wasn’t able to overcome its quarterfinal curse.
Quotables
“Georgia and I have been best friends since freshman year. It means a lot to be not only teammates but friends as well, especially on the court. You want to win that much more because you’re that close to everyone.”
– Senior Nazlie Ghazal, on teammate and roommate Georgia Rose, on the team’s senior day.
“I don’t think it helps our confidence a whole lot actually, because we’re just better than these teams. Winning this easily is sort of giving us a false sense of security and going into the NCAAs, you get to the round of 16, you need to be ready to go.”
– Coach Claire Pollard, on NU’s wins over Ohio State and Penn State on April 18 and 19, which clinched the team’s 11th consecutive Big Ten title.
“Obviously, our goal was to win the tournament. But it would be pretty bad if we looked back and said this wasn’t a great season. To say it wasn’t a success just wouldn’t be right.”
– Senior Keri Robison, following NU’s season-ending loss to Cal in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
By the Numbers
1: Career losses in conference play by Nazlie Ghazal, who finished with a nearly spotless 45-1 Big Ten record. Classmate Georgia Rose was almost as good, racking up a 29-2 career record in conference play.
77: Consecutive wins by NU in Big Ten play, including a perfect 13-0 record this season.
80-2: The combined score in NU’s 13 Big Ten matches this season. Michigan and Illinois each scored one point against NU in the regular season, but no one scored on the Cats’ run to the conference tournament crown.
0: Number of Big Ten teams to win an NCAA Championship in the tournament’s 28-year history. Despite having the No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year, the Cats were unable to become the conference’s first NCAA champion.
