Northwestern will look to start a new winning streak after falling to No. 22 Michigan on Sunday. The only problem: Penn State and No. 2 Ohio State still stand in the Wildcats’ way.
“It seems tough, but we just have to be good,” sophomore Raleigh Smith said.
The No. 46 Wildcats (12-7, 5-2 Big Ten) will first square off against the unranked Nittany Lions (11-9, 1-6 Big Ten) on Friday on the road before heading to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Buckeyes (25-2, 7-0 Big Ten).
For coach Arvid Swan, this weekend’s set of matches poses a very difficult test for the Cats. Swan said he is aware of the challenge in facing a Buckeyes team that has yet to lose against a Big Ten foe and is equally concerned about a Penn State team that has been in several close matches despite having only one win in Big Ten play to show for it.
“(Penn State) is a good team,” Swan said. “We have had good matches with them in the past.”
To play competitively against both teams, Swan feels the Cats need to work on both their doubles and singles play from the loss against Michigan. During the match with the Wolverines, NU was swept in doubles play and got victories in only singles play from Smith and junior Sidarth Balaji.
“We got to continue to improve our doubles play,” Swan said. “We can play better than we did (against Michigan) in doubles. We also need to continue to be aggressive in our singles play.”
Several NU players who were disappointed in their loss against a competitive Wolverines team are excited to have the opportunity to improve their play against two competitive teams.
“I am excited. I really want the chance to get on the court again and make up the sets lost today (Michigan match),” Spencer Wolf said.
The junior described his 6-0, 6-4 loss to Michigan’s Alex Petrone as one of the worst performances he has had since coming to NU. He said his goal heading into the weekend is to do everything he didn’t do against Michigan.
“If I can do the exact opposite of what I did, that’s it,” Wolf said.
The two matches this weekend are important to the Cats, who are currently sitting fourth in the Big Ten and looking to rise in the standings with a pair of conference victories this weekend.
A win this weekend would give NU its sixth Big Ten victory, something the Cats haven’t achieved since 2009, the same year the team last made the NCAA tournament. That year , NU finished 6-4 in conference, but fell in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament to Michigan.
Swan put an emphasis on winning the Big Ten matches and improving as they head into the Big Ten Tournament in two weeks at NU.
“(We’re) continuing to try to win matches in our conference and trying to improve our chances for the Big Ten Tournament,” Swan said.
