Winning has become second nature to Northwestern during Claire Pollard’s tenure with the Wildcats. So it comes as no surprise that the 13-year coach passed another milestone this weekend, winning her 300th dual match on Saturday.
No. 16 NU (14-5, 6-0 Big Ten) took down conference foe Iowa (5-12, 2-4) 6-1 on Saturday and followed up with a 5-2 outdoor victory over a resilient Illinois (8-9, 4-2) team on Sunday.
Pollard’s milestone win was never in doubt. Junior Elena Chernyakova and sophomore Brittany Wowchuk rolled over their opponents 8-0 at No. 3 doubles to improve to 8-1 on the year. Down 3-1 to start their match, senior Maria Mosolova and freshman Belinda Niu stormed back to seal the No. 2 doubles point with an 8-5 victory.
Iowa fought against the doubles sweep, however, and sophomore Linda Abu Mushrefova and freshman Nida Hamilton could not hang on to a 5-3 lead, falling at No. 1 doubles 6-8.
From then on it was all Cats. After sophomore Kate Turvy took a 5-3 victory by default at No. 3 singles, Hamilton completed a 6-1 6-0 waxing of her opponent for a win at No. 6 singles. Not to be outdone, Abu Mushrefova was not far behind at No. 5 singles with a 6-1 6-0 victory of her own, and after the first four points had been decided, NU had the win.
“As a team, we all competed really well in all the spots,” Chernyakova said. “Our main goal for the weekend was to compete regardless of who our opponent is and we did a good job of that.”
Things were a little tougher for the Cats against the Illini, but not by much. NU and Illinois split the first two doubles matches and Illinois had a 5-3 advantage over Abu Mushrefova and Hamilton at No. 1 doubles. The duo staged a tough rally, however, and fought their way to a tiebreaker, eventually securing the match 9-8 (8-6) and the doubles point.
Junior Stacey Lee quickly added to the lead with a dominating 6-0 6-1 win at No. 5 singles, and sophomore Kate Turvy followed suit with a relatively quick 6-1 6-4 victory at No. 3 singles.
Illinois fought off the loss as best they could. At No. 1 singles, Mosolova gained an easy 6-2 first-set win but had significantly more trouble in the second. She staved off a tough rally from junior Amy Allin to secure the second set 7-5, and with it the match.
“It was a great weekend for us,” Pollard said. “Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, tough weekend. We looked a little tired today with the heat, it was good for us though. I’m really glad we got those conditions. But we can’t do better than going 3-0.”
It was an even better weekend for the 13-year coach, who has amassed a 301-64 record, good for an .825 winning percentage.
“I’ve been lucky to have such great players in the program over the years,” Pollard said. “They deserve all the credit for the wins. I just focus on one win at a time. I couldn’t tell you our team record right now. Certainly couldn’t tell you how many matches I’ve won here at Northwestern. I’m just focused on every day getting to four points.”
