Women’s Tennis: No. 13 Northwestern rebounds from loss to No. 3 Texas to down No. 10 Oklahoma State and No. 9 Ohio State at ITA Indoors
Daily file photo by Alison Albelda
Julie Byrne hits the ball. The graduate student’s 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 singles win against Ohio State helped key Northwestern’s comeback win.
February 8, 2021
Women’s Tennis
Northwestern’s women’s tennis squad continued its hot start to the 2021 season, shrugging off a Friday loss to No. 3 Texas to defeat No. 10 Oklahoma State and No. 9 Ohio State over the weekend.
At the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I National Team Indoor Championships, the No. 13 Wildcats moved to 4-1 on the young season, their best start since the 2017 campaign. That 2017 team began its season with four straight wins over unranked opponents; each of the 2021 Cats’ wins have come over ranked foes.
The Longhorns provided a sour welcome to the ITA Indoor, handing NU a 4-1 loss to start its weekend. Texas tallied 6-3 and 6-4 wins to secure the doubles point, and the Longhorns’ powerful lineup rolled off three singles wins in straight sets to finish off the Cats. Junior Clarissa Hand scored a significant individual upset for NU, knocking off Texas’s Anna Turati— the No. 5 singles player in the ITA’s rankings — 6-2, 6-2.
The Cats regrouped on Saturday and shut out the tournament’s hosts, knocking off the Cowgirls 4-0 to get back in the win column. Sophomores Christina Hand and Briana Crowley gave NU the doubles point with a narrow 7-5 victory, and the Cats gained two more points due to forfeits from a shorthanded Oklahoma State team. Senior Caroline Pozo’s authoritative 6-0, 6-0 defeat of the Cowgirls’ Lora Boggs clinched the win.
In contrast to Saturday’s triumph, NU’s 4-3 win over the Buckeyes on Sunday was a tight, back-and-forth affair. The Cats picked up the doubles point behind a 7-5 win from Christina Hand and Crowley, but Ohio State responded by reeling off a trio of singles wins to take a 3-1 lead. Graduate student Julie Byrne and Crowley then both came back from a set down to force a 3-3 tie, and Pozo prevailed in a tiebreaker over the Buckeyes’ Lucia Marzal 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to close the Cats’ stay in the Sooner State on a positive note.
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