Entering the ITA Central Sectional Championship on Nov. 7, only two Northwestern players still had more fall tennis left to play.
Graduate student Britany Lau and freshman Mika Dagan Fruchtman traveled to Ann Arbor knowing that this tournament would be their last chance for an NCAA Tournament berth this fall.
Lau participated in both singles and doubles, whereas Dagan Fruchtman only competed in doubles. Lau had to guarantee a top-six singles finish to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, in doubles, the pairing had to solidify a top-three finish to reach the NCAA Tournament in Waco, Texas.
Lau started her singles campaign strong, defeating Iowa’s Marisa Schmidt 6-3, 6-1. Schmidt primarily slotted in as the Hawkeyes’ No. 2 singles player last season, recording a 13-5 singles record during duel season.
In the second round, Lau nearly upset Oklahoma’s Alina Shcherbinina but fell just short. Despite taking the first set, Lau fell to the nation’s No. 56 player 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. Lau ended her fall season with a 7-4 record in singles.
Less than a month ago, Lau and Dagan Fruchtman reached the ITA Midwest Regional Championship semifinals. They fell just two wins short of reaching the NCAA Tournament there, but their positive result in Columbus, Ohio, positioned them to partake in the Sectional Championships.
In the first round, the duo faced conference foes from Michigan, Piper Charney and Emily Sartz-Lunde, and edged a 6-3, 3-6, [10-6] victory. The quarterfinals were easier for the Wildcats’ duo. They defeated TCU’s Tomi Main and Yu-Chin Tsai 6-4, 6-3.
Lau and Dagan Fruchtman reached the semifinals needing just one win in their ensuing two matches to reach the NCAA Tournament, but they fell short of this meter.
Against Baylor’s Liubov Kostenko and Cristina Tiglea, Lau and Dagan Fruchtman found themselves in a first-set tiebreaker after failing to convert on multiple break points throughout the set. In the tiebreak, they fell into a 6-3 deficit that the duo could not overcome.
On their first service game of the second set, they were broken. Shortly after, they were down a double break in the set and lost 7-6(5), 6-2.
With a win-or-go-home chance for the NCAA Tournament, the pair lost 6-4, 7-6(1) to TCU’s Jade Otway and Isabel Pascual at Michigan’s Varsity Tennis Center, ending the fall season for NU.
The ’Cats will return to action in the winter when the dual season kicks off.
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