Northwestern recovered from closing-time stumbles to outlast Georgia Tech 4-2 in a match lasting more than three and a half hours Sunday afternoon.
Graduate student No. 3 Britany Lau and sophomore No. 6 Autumn Rabjohns each won three-set singles battles after failing to serve out their matches in the second set, clinching victories within a minute of each other to get the Wildcats (4-1, 0-0 Big Ten) over the line.
Freshman No. 1 Mika Dagan Fruchtman saved four match points in a second-set tiebreak and responded to a series of disputed umpiring decisions, forcing the match to a 5-5 deadlock in the third set before it was left unfinished.
Across all six courts at Combe Tennis Center, coach Claire Pollard’s squad battled away for every last point, exacting revenge on a Yellow Jackets squad that beat them 4-3 last season.
“What’s really hard about that match is, had it not gone our way, how do you convince them to give that kind of effort again?” Pollard said. “It’s a little easier tonight.”
The action began with NU taking the doubles point. The No. 1 pairing of Lau and Dagan Fruchtman won the decisive set 6-3 after the ’Cats had won at No. 2 but lost at No. 3.
Senior Kiley Rabjohns returned to the singles lineup at No. 4 after missing the opening four matches of the season due to injury. Kiley and Autumn Rabjohns, sisters from Lake Forest, Illinois, appeared in the same dual season lineup for the first time and played on neighboring courts.
Kiley Rabjohns, Dagan Fruchtman and freshman No. 2 Erica Jessel all slumped to one-sided first set defeats, while Autumn Rabjohns and Lau each won their first sets.
The final first set to finish involved senior No. 5 Sydney Pratt, who was broken while serving for the set at 5-4, but bounced back to play a commanding tiebreak which she won 7-4 with an overhead winner on set point.
At one moment, all three NU players up a set led by a break in the second set, with Lau serving for her match up 6-2, 5-4, Autumn Rabjohns leading 6-4, 4-2 and Pratt ahead 7-6(4), 4-1. Straight-sets defeats for Jessel and Kiley Rabjohns that put Georgia Tech up 2-1 would prove inconsequential if those three could hold on.
However, all three surrendered their break leads. Although Pratt was able to quickly reclaim her advantage and serve out a 6-3 set to clinch victory, Autumn Rabjohns lost three consecutive games from 5-4 up to lose the set and Lau failed to convert on seven match points before losing an 8-6 tiebreak.
Meanwhile, Dagan Fruchtman took the second set to a tiebreak. After losing its first five points, she stormed back to 5-5. From there, Dagan Fruchtman went into lockdown mode, punctuating marathon rallies with aggressive groundstrokes.
“I was like, ‘I’m not losing this match,’” Dagan Fruchtman said. “‘Doesn’t matter, I’m not playing well, I just gotta grind it.’”
Down 7-6, Dagan Fruchtman saved her second match point with a sizzling angled forehand crosscourt winner at the end of a grueling exchange. On the next point, Georgia Tech’s Alejandra Cruz hit a backhand volley that landed near Dagan Fruchtman’s right sideline — the freshman raised a finger to call the ball out, but was overruled by the umpire.
Incensed with the decision, Dagan Fruchtman dialed in, saving two further match points and ultimately closing out an epic tiebreak 13-11.
The drama didn’t end there.
After Dagan Fruchtman took a voluntary point penalty for getting her right foot wrapped up by a trainer, a second overrule on a Dagan Fruchtman out call in the opening game of the third set resulted in a game penalty. Dagan Fruchtman said she thought it was “pretty obvious” the ball had landed out, especially because of the slower pace of Cruz’s shot.
“And then game penalty, ‘I’m like, what?’” Dagan Fruchtman said. “I just fought for my life in the second set.”
Just as in the second-set tiebreak, Dagan Fruchtman used her anger as motivation, holding the next game at love with passionate fist pumps after each point.
“We kind of need Mika to be right on the edge,” Pollard said. “Sometimes I worry that she’s going to cross a line, but I think she’s got to get close to that line to be the best version of herself.”
Meanwhile, while that scene was unfolding, Lau and Autumn Rabjohns jumped out to double break leads in the third set. By the time Dagan Fruchtman saved her fifth and sixth match points to level her third set at 5-5, her teammates were on the verge of victory.
Autumn Rabjohns sent a backhand down the line winner to seal a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory, and roughly a minute later, Lau’s opponent hit long on the graduate student’s ninth match point. The rest of the team mobbed Lau, including Dagan Fruchtman, who said she was not upset her match didn’t finish.
“I’m happy,” Dagan Fruchtman said. “I think I did my role for the day.”
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