Northwestern posted a winless record this weekend at the ITA Indoor Championships, dropping matches to No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 Stanford and No. 15 Pepperdine at Combe Tennis Center.
Even after the Wildcats (4-4, 0-0 Big Ten) were swept 4-0 by Georgia, coach Claire Pollard felt positive about her team’s performance.
“I don’t think we’re far away,” Pollard said. “I think there were three points on the board for sure today that we could have gotten, and you get three, then you can get four.”
The three points Pollard imagined NU obtaining were the doubles point, graduate student Britany Lau at the No. 3 singles and senior Sydney Pratt at the No. 5 singles. Lau and Pratt won their first sets, while all other ’Cats players dropped their opening set.
At the No. 2 doubles, Pratt and freshman Erica Jessel registered a dominant 6-2 win. A loss at the No. 1 position meant that the doubles point was left in the hands of the No. 3 pairing of senior Kiley Rabjohns and sophomore Neena Feldman.
At the crucial 5-5 game with Rabjohns on serve, the NU duo fell behind 0-30. They fought back to even the game at 40-40 but lost the point, going down a break. Despite generating three break points in the ensuing game, the pair lost 7-5, granting the doubles point to the Bulldogs (6-1, 0-0 SEC).
“I thought we had a lot of good chances to get that doubles, especially earlier in the beginning-to-middle part of the set,” Pollard said. “I thought we were in control, and (there were) a few long rallies we couldn’t put away. … I think we needed to be a little bit more assertive.”
In the process, Rabjohns made her season debut in doubles in the match.
In singles, Lau’s match was unfinished at 6-4, 4-4. Pratt was winning 6-3, 3-4. Three Wildcats lost in straight sets for Georgia’s victory: No. 1 freshman Mika Dagan Fruchtman, No. 2 Jessel and No. 6 sophomore Autumn Rabjohns.
Dagan Fruchtman’s 6-0, 6-0 loss came against the nation’s No. 1 player Dasha Vidmanova. Pollard said Dagan Fruchtman played through a pulled hamstring in addition to foot injuries she has battled recently.
On Saturday, NU got closer to victory but couldn’t overcome No. 4 Stanford, losing 4-2 in a consolation bracket match.
The clash against the Cardinal (4-2, 0-0 ACC) began with an almost identical doubles point to the one played against Georgia, but with the ’Cats finding a way through a decisive No. 3 set.
Pratt and Jessel’s doubles exploits continued as the pair stormed to a 6-0 victory, losing just three service points in the process.
When asked what had clicked for her No. 2 team, Pollard said, “I don’t know. I need some of it though. Let’s spread it around.”
With Dagan Fruchtman and Lau losing at No. 1, Feldman and Rabjohns again found themselves playing a nail-biting set that would decide the point. From a 4-3 break down, the NU team rallied back to win 7-5, sending the home crowd into raptures.
Straight-sets singles losses from No. 6 Autumn Rabjohns, No. 4 Kiley Rabjohns and No. 1 Dagan Fruchtman put the ’Cats in a 3-1 hole, before Pratt closed the gap with a 6-4, 6-3 victory at the No. 5 spot.
That meant both No. 2 Jessel and No. 3 Lau needed to come through tight battles for Pollard’s team to complete the comeback.
Jessel stole the show, putting on a display of powerful ball striking en route to a 7-5 first set over Stanford’s Connie Ma, the 18th-ranked player in the nation. Ma fought back to take the second set 6-3, before the match was left unfinished in the embryonic stages of the third.
Pollard called it Jessel’s best performance of the season.
The Cardinal ultimately clinched the match at No. 3 when Lau roared back in the second set after losing the first but couldn’t maintain her momentum in a 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 loss. After the match, Pollard said she thought her team had been even more competitive than against Georgia.
“Gosh, we’re close,” Pollard said. “We’re super close.”
In their final consolation match against No. 15 Pepperdine Sunday, the ’Cats fell to 4-1.
The ’Cats lost the doubles point, falling at the top two slots. The No. 3 team of Feldman and Kiley Rabjohns recorded their second victory of the weekend with a 6-1 win.
No. 1 Dagan Fruchtman, No. 2 Jessel and No. 5 Kiley Rabjohns — moved down from the No. 4 slot — suffered straight-sets defeats.
Meanwhile, Feldman moved into the No. 6 singles spot for her third singles match of the season, earning NU’s lone point with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win.
At the time of the match’s conclusion, No. 3 Lau led 1-6, 7-6(5), 2-1, while Pratt, moved up to the No. 4, was up 6-2, 5-5.
NU’s three matches over three days may have resulted in three losses, but Pollard said she was optimistic for her squad’s potential as the season heats up.
“You can go 0-3 in this event and come away a much better team,” Pollard said. “It’s been nothing but good for our team.”
Email: charliespungin2027@u.northwestern.edu
Email: elikronenberg2027@u.northwestern.edu
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— Women’s Tennis: Lau’s gritty singles win clinches team victory over Georgia Tech
