Northwestern kicked off its 2024 fall season in South Bend, Indiana, at the Notre Dame Invite.
There are numerous different faces across this year’s roster. The Wildcats’ top three players from last season — Maria Shusharina, who was a unanimous All-Big Ten Team selection, Justine Leong and Christina Hand — all graduated. Shusharina was coach Claire Pollard’s top singles player. Leong and Hand were NU’s top doubles team.
The competition kicked off Oct. 4 with doubles play. Four of the five teams that Pollard selected won their respective matches. Freshman Mika Dagan Fruchtman and freshman Erica Jessel each recorded their first collegiate victories. Sophomore transfer Katya Shepherd Johnson, who transferred from MIT, also recorded her first win as a ’Cat.
Dagan Fruchtman, joined by graduate student Britany Lau, notched a 7-5 victory over Notre Dame’s top-50 ranked duo of Carrie Beckman and Bojana Pozder.
Jessel won her match with senior Sydney Pratt, while Shepherd Johnson and senior Kiley Rabjohns were victorious together. Sophomores Neena Feldman and Autumn Rabjohns recorded a 6-4 win together.
In singles play, Lau beat Pozder, the No. 112 player in the country, in a dominant 6-3, 6-4 fashion. Meanwhile, Pratt — who could slate in as NU’s No. 1 during the duel season — won 6-2, 6-4. Freshman Maia Loureiro recorded her first win in purple and black with a 6-1, 6-1 pummeling of Notre Dame’s Kate Bellia.
Junior Jennifer Riester, Feldman and Shepherd Johnson all notched Friday singles victories as well.
On Saturday, only one Wildcat duo picked up a doubles victory. Dagan Fruchtman and Pratt paired up and won 6-3.
Dagan Fruchtman recorded her first singles win in a 6-2, 6-4 win over Tulane’s Jiayun Zhu. Kiley Rabjohns also bounced back from a singles loss the day prior with a 7-5, 6-1 victory. Her younger sister Autumn Rabjohns also notched a victory.
Riester and Shepherd Johnson also picked up wins, while Loureiro came back from down a set to win 6(6)-7, 7-5, 6-1.
On Sunday, NU faced off primarily against Michigan, who finished a perfect 11-0 in Big Ten competition last year. The ’Cats lost all three of their doubles matches. Pratt and Jessel came closest to a win with their 6-4 loss.
Singles play wasn’t much better, as the team only recorded two wins. Lau came close to beating the No. 45 player in the nation, Michigan’s Lily Jones, but fell narrowly 7-5, 7-6.
Riester and Loureiro capped off 3-0 singles campaigns during the three-day invitational with their wins Sunday. Loureiro won 6-4, 6-4, while Riester came back from down a set with a 6-7, 6-3, [10-3] win.
NU’s fall season continues tomorrow with the ITA Regional Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
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