Northwestern started its doubles season opener with a tight matchup against Florida Atlantic, securing a 4-3 victory on a sunny Monday in Boca Raton, Florida.

The Wildcats (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten) looked to bounce back from a sub-.500 2022-23 campaign with a statement road victory over the Owls (0-1, 0-0 American). However, FAU nabbed an early advantage in doubles, tallying 6-4 and 6-3 victories on courts 1 and 2. 

Despite losing the doubles point, NU outshined the Owls with an imposing show on the singles courts. 

Graduate student Christina Hand evened the score at 1 after her singles match culminated in 6-1 and 6-2 set victories. Fellow graduate student Britany Lau — a new addition to coach Claire Pollard’s roster this season — finished a near-flawless first match for NU with 6-1 and 6-0 set margins to give the ‘Cats their first lead of the day. 

Similarly, sophomore Jennifer Riester dropped just one game in her singles bout, displaying the same pedigree that earned her a five-star recruiting ranking out of Massachusetts in 2022.

Junior Sydney Pratt kept her squad in contention by securing NU’s third point of the day as she triumphed 6-2 in the first set and took care of business in a 6-3 second-set win. 

Now that the weight of the event stood in the balance, all eyes shifted to court four. 

With the score tied at three points, it was junior Kiley Rabjohns who sealed the visitors’ win with a pair of 7-6 set victories.

The ‘Cats will look to build off of Monday’s momentum next weekend against Butler and Eastern Michigan, with the first serve against the Bulldogs at 10 a.m. and play against the Eagles scheduled for 4 p.m.

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