No. 44 Northwestern saw its NCAA Tournament hopes endure a potentially fatal blow with a 4-1 Senior Day loss to in-state rival No. 45 Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Vandy Christie Tennis Center.
Entering the day as the third team out from the tournament cutline according to CollegeTennisRanks, the Wildcats (11-12, 4-7 Big Ten) took to the court looking to exact revenge on a fellow bubble team after they lost to the Fighting Illini (11-11, 6-5 Big Ten) 4-2 in January.
Yet, following a crushing 4-1 defeat, coach Claire Pollard was left pondering her side’s consistency throughout the season.
“We’re just a little bit up and down as a team,” Pollard said. “When we play well, we play really well. When we don’t play well, we just don’t make it hard enough on our opponent. Today was an example of where we just didn’t make it hard enough.”
Pollard made yet another tweak to her doubles lineup, restoring the teams that nearly won the doubles point against No. 11 Ohio State last weekend.
Graduate student Britany Lau and freshman Mika Dagan Fruchtman lost 6-1 at the No. 1 position. Meanwhile, senior Sydney Pratt and freshman Erica Jessel at No. 2 as well as senior Kiley Rabjohns and sophomore Neena Feldman at No. 3 each found themselves staring at 5-3, 40-40 deficits.
Yet, before the No. 2 pairing could commence their point, a Rabjohns backhand soared long to wrap up the doubles point for the Fighting Illini.
Pollard made one change to her singles lineup, moving Feldman up to No. 3 and Pratt down to No. 4 in a swap of her two most reliable performers.
Needing four singles victories to emerge triumphant, NU captured just two first sets. Feldman at No. 3 and Rabjohns at No. 5 claimed their first sets 6-2. However, Jessel at No. 1, Lau at No. 2 and Pratt at No. 4 all lost the first set in a matter of time.
Perhaps the most consequential moment of the day came at the No. 6 spot, where sophomore Autumn Rabjohns played a tightly contested first set against Kasia Treiber.
Down 5-3, Autumn Rabjohns broke back and saved a set point at deuce. Then, serving at 4-5, 30-40, the forehand slice specialist whipped out a rare topspin forehand and fired a crosscourt passing shot for a winner, before winning the deuce point to extend the set.
Facing a third uncomfortable jam at 5-6, 15-40, Rabjohns came up with another topspin forehand winner, this time off a high swinging volley. Treiber subsequently netted forehands on the next two points, allowing Rabjohns to save her sixth set point.
Yet, in the tiebreak, events got out of hand in the blink of an eye. Rabjohns made two backhand unforced errors to go down 3-0, and a downhill spiral continued. On set point, a backhand from Treiber hit the net cord and dribbled over to put the cherry on top of a 7-0 tiebreak.
“It just seemed like we went through a few spurts of bad points,” Pollard said of Rabjohns. “Like the tiebreaker, just out of the blue, six points in a row that were just not the way.”
Elsewhere, Jessel and Lau each lost in straight sets — 6-2, 6-2, and 6-3, 6-1, respectively — to put NU in a 3-0 hole. That meant the ’Cats needed Pratt and Autumn Rabjohns to win from a set down in addition to Feldman and Kiley Rabjohns holding on.
Pratt did just that, turning the tables to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 and improve to 15-2 on the season in singles.
“Up and down a little bit — this year nothing but up,” Pollard said of Pratt’s NU career in a pre-match Senior Day ceremony. “I love the way Syd has worked through everything.”
Autumn Rabjohns was unable to emulate Pratt’s comeback, dropping a 6-4 second set that featured seven breaks of serve. The defeat clinched victory for Illinois as Feldman entered a third set while Kiley Rabjohns’ match stood at 5-5 in the second set.
“I feel like there’s moments when Autumn is fine but there’s just a little inexperience,” Pollard said. “This is her fourth (consecutive) match. … Kasia is on match, I don’t know, 100? I think that’s maybe the difference in that match.”
The defeat served as a last hurrah in Evanston for impending graduates Lau, Pratt and Kiley Rabjohns.
With two matches remaining on NU’s Big Ten schedule — on the road against Purdue and Indiana — Pollard’s outfit sits 13th in the conference standings, one spot below the cut-off for the 12-team Big Ten Tournament in Ojai, California.
If the ’Cats fail to reach the NCAA Tournament, it would be just the second time Pollard has missed out in her 27-year tenure in Evanston.
“We’ve got our backs against the wall — lots to play for next weekend,” Pollard said. “I still think this team’s really capable of doing really good things. I do have a lot of faith in them. That’s why it’s a little disappointing is I feel like maybe I haven’t done as good a job as I could have this year.”
Email: elikronenberg2027@u.northwestern.edu
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— Women’s Tennis: Northwestern snaps three-match losing streak with 4-0 sweep against Penn State
— Women’s Tennis: Doubles point heartbreak paves the way for 4-0 defeat to Ohio State
