Although campus was relatively quiet last week due to the Spring Break exodus, No. 11 Northwestern was anything but subdued.
The Wildcats hit a bump in the road in their successful season Sunday against No. 1 North Carolina. The battle of top-15 teams went to the Tar Heels 4-3 in dramatic fashion. NU fell behind 3-0 early on but rallied to get to 3-2 before dropping match four to seal the defeat.
Senior Linda Abu Mushrefova started the comeback with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Ashley Dai, the first loss the North Carolina player has had in a dual meet this season. Junior Veronica Corning also handed her opponent the team’s first loss in a dual meet, but she was the final match to finish.
The key turning point was the doubles point, which NU lost 2-1. Corning teamed up with freshman Alicia Barnett to open the dual with an 8-4 triumph. After an 8-1 North Carolina rout at the other doubles position, the point came down to Abu Mushrefova and her partner, junior Nida Hamilton. The eighth-ranked duo fell 9-8 in a tiebreaker to lose the doubles point and give the Tar Heels the early lead.
On Wednesday, NU traveled to Atlanta to face No. 33 Georgia Tech. The Cats won the doubles point but lost 4-3 after dropping the final three singles matches to the Yellow Jackets.
After two incredibly close losses, NU had plenty of motivation as it returned to Big Ten play against Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Cats did not show any mercy to their visitors, thrashing both the Golden Gophers and Badgers by identical 7-0 scores. In the process of obtaining consecutive shutouts, NU only let three singles matches go into a third decisive set.
NU dominated the match Saturday against Minnesota, taking an early lead with doubles victories from the pair of senior Kate Turvy and junior Belinda Niu and the pair of Corning and Barnett. But not every match, set, or game was so simple. Turvy kept things interesting during her singles match by dropping four straight games before rallying back to win 12 out of the next 13. She ultimately won by a score of 6-4, 6-1. Niu won the final match in an exciting yet decisive super breaker with a score of 10-0.
The Cats let the good times roll as they carried their shutout into Sunday. The Badgers put up a fight, but the Cats were just too much for them to handle. Corning continued her stellar week with a tight three-set victory in the No. 1 position, her first time playing in the top spot this season.NU also got help from Hamilton, who picked up a convincing 6-0, 6-1 win over Katie Hoch.
NU looks to continue its home court Big Ten shutout streak Saturday against Michigan State at home.
