Women’s Tennis

After a rough loss against UCLA last weekend, Northwestern is hoping to get back on track as it takes on Vanderbilt at home Sunday.

The Commodores will be the No. 25 Wildcats’ toughest opponent yet, as Vanderbilt is the defending national champion, and is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation. The last NU win against Vanderbilt was in early 2012, when the Cats took out the Commodores 5-2. No players on the current roster have been a part of a Vanderbilt win.

This year, Vanderbilt has shown the same talent that helped the team win it all last year. The Commodores are coming into Sunday red-hot off a dominant 4-0 rout of No. 7 Virginia. On top of that, they had a commanding 4-0 win against No. 14 Duke, a team that beat NU 4-3 two weeks ago.

But the Commodores have recently shown some weaknesses. Their 14-match win streak was ended Saturday by No. 16 Ohio State, as the Buckeyes edged out Vanderbilt 4-3 in the ITA Indoor Championship quarterfinals.

“They lost the Indoors to a Big Ten team. A ranking is a ranking, it doesn’t mean a whole lot at this point in the season,” coach Claire Pollard said. “We’re more focused on ourselves and what we need to do, and not really concerned about our opponent”.

Although Vanderbilt’s coming off a huge win, the Cats are attempting to rebound from a 6-1 loss to No. 21 UCLA. Although NU has three straight losses, the players have shown they have the talent to compete, as the Cats started the season strong with two big wins over then-No. 27 Arizona State and then-No. 15 Alabama.

Despite the losses, NU is aware of the importance of the Vanderbilt match. Sophomore Alex Chatt said it is vital to stay aggressive against a tough opponent.

“We’re going to go into our practices even more competitive and more hungry than normal,” Chatt said. “I hope we can lay it all out on the court, compete as hard as we can, and get better after this match.”

The Cats have yet to play an unranked opponent this season, and Vanderbilt, their fifth-straight ranked opponent, is certainly a huge obstacle.

But sophomore Erin Larner said the tough schedule hasn’t discouraged the team.

“We all have it in our minds and know that they’re the national champions, but we’ve been playing a tough schedule to start the season,” Larner said. “It’s another top opponent, a great opportunity for us and we’re going to have to work really hard.”

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