Staring into the dreaded abyss of missing out on the Big Ten Tournament, No. 50 Northwestern toppled No. 60 Purdue and Indiana on the road to keep its season alive.
The Wildcats (13-12, 6-7 Big Ten) entered the weekend needing two wins to guarantee their place in the 12-team conference tournament, and accomplished just that, setting a date with No. 42 Illinois in the first round this Wednesday.
NU traveled to West Lafayette, Indiana, to face the Boilermakers (11-9, 5-8 Big Ten) on Saturday, emerging with a 4-1 triumph.
In doubles, the ’Cats experienced the all-too-familiar feeling of letting the point slip from their grasp. Pollard changed her doubles lineup for the fifth consecutive match, reverting to a set of pairings she used in the early stages of the conference season.
At the top spot, senior Sydney Pratt and sophomore Neena Feldman claimed a 6-3 victory, but a position below them, the freshmen duo of Erica Jessel and Mika Dagan Fruchtman lost 6-4.
That left the point in the hands of graduate student Britany Lau and senior Kiley Rabjohns at No. 3. Lau and Rabjohns served for the set at 5-4, but they were broken back and eventually fell 7-2 in a tiebreak to give the Boilermakers the first point of the day.
Pollard made one adjustment to her singles lineup, moving Feldman up to No. 2 — the highest she has played in her career — and Lau down to No. 3.
The ’Cats rebounded by taking four singles first sets at the No. 3 through No. 6 positions, putting them on track for victory. Lau reeled off six consecutive games from 4-0 down to take her first set.
The two NU players who lost first sets — Feldman and Jessel — each fought valiantly in their second sets, with Jessel taking hers 6-3 and Feldman trailing 4-3 when her match was suspended. Yet, their efforts proved unnecessary, as the four ’Cats who won their first set each finished the job in straight sets.
Lau got the ’Cats on the board with a 6-4, 6-3 victory, and sophomore Autumn Rabjohns put them ahead by winning 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6. Pratt pushed her team to the brink of victory with a 6-0, 6-3 triumph at No. 4, and No. 5 Kiley Rabjohns sealed the deal in style, winning 6-3, 7-5.
NU headed south the following day for a clash against the Hoosiers (8-15, 2-11 Big Ten) in Bloomington, claiming a 4-2 victory in a back-and-forth battle.
Pollard kept the faith with her doubles teams, and the move paid dividends as the ’Cats won a dramatic point. Lau and Rabjohns won 6-2 at No. 3, and NU seemed to be on the verge of victory with Dagan Fruchtman and Jessel up 5-1 at No. 2.
However, the freshmen’s advantage was stifled, losing four consecutive games and squandering two match points while serving for the set at 5-4. Yet, Dagan Fruchtman and Jessel stayed the course, breaking at 5-5 and serving out the doubles point at the second time of asking for a 7-5 win.
In singles, the ’Cats followed the same pattern as the previous day, losing the first set at the top two positions but winning it at No. 3 through No. 6.
After winning a tight first set at No. 3, Lau faded fast — she lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 and was the first player off the court despite the remaining five matches still sitting in the second set.
Indiana took a 2-1 lead after Jessel lost 6-4, 6-3 at No. 1, but NU leveled the match within a minute when Pratt took four straight games from 3-5 down in the second set to win 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4.
At that point, No. 5 Kiley Rabjohns and No. 6 Autumn Rabjohns each led by a set and were about to enter second-set tiebreaks, while No. 2 Feldman was deep in the second set after dropping the first.
Kiley Rabjohns lost her tiebreak 7-5, but Autumn Rabjohns won hers to cap off a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory, putting the ’Cats up 3-2. Feldman won her second set 7-5, meaning both she and Kiley Rabjohns entered a third set around the same time, with NU needing just one to win.
After getting broken at love to open the third set, Feldman found her range, rolling through six consecutive games to clinch the match for the ’Cats with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win. Kiley Rabjohns led 4-1 in the third set when her match was called off.
With the wins, coach Claire Pollard’s side kept its NCAA Tournament hopes hanging on by a thread, moving back up to the fifth team out from the cutline in CollegeTennisRanks’ projections.
Pollard’s squad will travel to Ojai, California, for its Big Ten Tournament opener against Illinois, a team it has already lost to on two occasions this season — most recently in a Senior Day defeat last Saturday.
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