Women’s Tennis

On Friday, No. 10 Northwestern played up to its ranking, sweeping Iowa in its Big Ten opener, but two days later the Wildcats fell to No. 20 Pepperdine.

Against the Hawkeyes (7-2, 0-1 Big Ten), NU (6-5, 1-0) won all seven completed matches in the first conference match as the team tries to defend its Big Ten regular season championship. Three of the matches were handled easily in two sets, and the Cats had three three-set victories at singles to finish the otherwise uncompetitive matchup.

No. 30 Clarissa Hand won at No. 1 singles in a third-set tiebreaker, continuing a promising start to her freshman season by beating unranked Samantha Mannix 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6). Hand also dominated at No. 1 doubles, teaming with senior Lee Or for a 6-0 victory.

Against the Waves (4-3), the Cats failed to keep that momentum going. NU fell 5-2, and the result was already decided after the first four matches were completed. Pepperdine took each of the first four matches, sweeping in doubles and securing wins at fourth and fifth singles over sophomore Caroline Pozo and senior Rheeya Doshi.

All of the remaining matches for NU will take place against Big Ten teams. The Cats are the highest ranked team in the conference, though they will likely slip from their spot in the rankings. No. 11 Ohio State and No. 22 Illinois are the only other ranked teams in the conference.

NU will return to the courts on March 1 for a rivalry match against the Fighting Illini.

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