Tennis: Women secure an undefeated home season, men lose in Illinois

Friday: Comebacks propel women to 4-1 win over Purdue

Returning to the Combe Tennis Center for the first time since the controversial match against Wisconsin that resulted in a Big Ten upset, No. 37 Northwestern women's tennis tried to maintain its undefeated home record against No. 58 Purdue on Friday afternoon.

The Cats got off to a perfect start in doubles. No. 1 team Christina Hand and Justine Leong, the country's 57th-ranked duo, continued their sublime form by winning 6-0. The result meant they had lost just one game in their previous three sets together.

Christina and [Justine] are the ultimate combination of complementary players, Northwestern coach Claire Pollard said. It's been a tough, up and down season for them, and now I think we've turned the corner.

Britany Lau and Maria Shusharina, the No. 2 duo, advanced to doubles for NU with a 6-3 victory. This was the fifth straight match in which the Cats claimed the doubles point.

From the start of the singles matches, Purdue showed it was capable of making the match go the distance as each side won three opening sets. Northwestern lost two very close games, with No. 5 Kiley Rabjohns losing in a tiebreaker and No. 2 Leong falling 7-5 after leading 4-0.

No. 6 Lau finished first and defeated her opponent 6-0, 6-4. Shusharina followed shortly after at No. 1 and won 6-3, 6-3, giving the Cats a 3-0 lead on the day. However, at that point, no matches were remotely safe. Three of NU's four players trailed by a set, with the other falling to a third after No. 3 Sydney Pratt hurriedly split sets with Kennedy Gibbs.

Gibbs eventually cruised through the second and third sets en route to a 1-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory. No. 4 Hand and Rabjohns tied their respective matches, meaning Northwestern needed just a set on both courts to earn the win. All the while, Leong's opponent Csilla Fodor was methodically working while trailing again 4-0 in the second set.

In the end, Hand crossed the finish line first with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win that sealed the deal, although Rabjohns was about to do the same and led 5-2 in the third. Leong also finished strongly, saving four match points, sending the second set into a tiebreak before the match was abandoned.

I think it's huge, Pollard said of Leong's late heroics. I think too [Rabjohns] need to think for a moment [she] would have won. Whatever is presented, you have to turn and work it to your advantage.

Saturday: Third set expires in a 7-0 defeat against Illinois

The No. 67 Northwestern men's tennis team hit the road again last weekend to play a rival in Illinois. Although the game was closer than the final score indicated, the Wildcats returned to Evanston with a loss to the No. 27 team in the country, dropping their record to 8-16 and 2-5 in Big Ten play.

Illinois got things going with a convincing doubles performance to claim the first point of the match. At No. 3 doubles, the Illinois duo of Lucas Horve and Tyler Bowers quickly defeated Northwestern's Max Bengtsson and Chad Miller 6-1. Then at No. 2 doubles, the duo of Mathis Debru and Kenta Miyoshi defeated Greyson Casey and Presley Thieneman 6-4 to earn the point for the Illini. This was the third straight match in which the Wildcats failed to win the doubles point.

In singles the level was very high, with competitive matches on every court. It looked like Northwestern was in serious trouble initially as Illinois took four of the six opening sets. Things looked even worse after No. 1 Thieneman lost to Hunter Heck 6-4, 6-4.

After Illinois took a 2-0 lead, the momentum changed as No. 3 Saiprakash Goli and No. 6 Casey took the second sets in their respective matches, bringing four of the six matches to a third and deciding set.

Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Wildcats were to get the win that afternoon.

One by one, Northwestern's hopes began to dwindle. No. 4 Felix Nordby fell and Bowers defeated him 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. It was one of four three-set losses the Wildcats suffered on a day where they all had to get their way.

Next to go down was No. 2 Gleb Blekher. Alex Petrov defeated him 7-5, 7-6(7) to decide the match in favor of Illinois.

The teams decided to play on to finish the remaining ongoing matches, but the remaining Wildcats failed to put a point on the board. Bengtsson, Casey and Goli all dropped the third set of their matches.

With the loss, the men finished the away portion of the schedule at just 2-10 for the year. They return to action this weekend with matches in friendlier conditions at the Combe Tennis Center against No. 70 Indiana and Purdue.

Sunday: Senior Day dominance results in a 4-0 win over Indiana for the women's team

Emotions were running high as things got going last Sunday as the women's team returned to play at home against Indiana.

There was the uncertainty of whether or not the game would be played indoors or outdoors, the pressure to maintain a perfect home record and stay in the Big Ten regular season title race, but most of all the taboo subject of the senior day and the festivities thereon. crane.

We don't talk about it much, Pollard said. Everybody knows [senior day] comes. I think [Justine Leong] had a really hard time this morning. But it's a balance because there's still a lot of season left. This is not their very last match.

That idea didn't stop the players, especially the seniors, from playing like that.

The Wildcats claimed doubles points for the sixth straight time with relative ease. The No. 1 duo of Hand and Leong quickly won 6-1 against Indiana's duo of Saby Nihalani and Li Hsin Lin, while the Cats No. 2 duo of Lau and Shusharina rounded out the run with a 6-2 victory over Sarah Lallier and Lene Mari Hovda .

The singles portion was equally uncontested as Indiana, despite her best efforts, failed to keep things close. The Hoosiers would claim just one first set in the afternoon and only two sets total.

Just like in the doubles, the seniors led the way in the singles. No. 1 Shusharina dispatched Nicole Teodosescu 6-1, 6-3 to make the match 2-0. Hand No. 3 was not far behind, closing her match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Hsin Lin. From then on it was just a matter of who would finish first, with No. 2 Leong and No. 4 Pratt holding narrow leads in the second set.

Leong, the nation's No. 116 player, dug deep on her final day to catapult the Wildcats to victory. She defeated her opponent, Elisabeth Dunac, in a second-set tiebreak to earn a 6-1, 7-6(5) victory.

Pratt's match would remain unfinished with a 6-3, 5-4 lead.

Leong's result was great for several reasons. Not only did it notch a team victory on senior day and cap off an undefeated home season, but it also allowed Pollard and her players to focus on higher goals to end the year.

It would be nice to get a signature win on the road, so I think we can have a good rest and have a little celebration, Pollard said. And then it was all about the Buckeyes.

The Cats will face No. 15 Ohio State on Friday, April 19 at 3:30 PM CT in Columbus, Ohio.