Both teams stand at 4-7 in Big Ten play with one week until conference tournaments.
The Northwestern men’s and women’s tennis teams stand in shaky positions with one weekend left in conference play. While the men were able to meet expectations this past weekend — splitting matches against the best and worst Big Ten teams, respectively — the women were unable to take care of business against Illinois.
Led by dominant singles play, the No. 67 ranked men’s team started off its homestand by defeating Penn State (12-13, 0-11 B1G) on Friday. The evening began with a slight hiccup, as the Nittany Lions were able to steal the doubles point. The Wildcats’ top pairing of Felix Nordby and Chad Miller emerged victorious at the No. 1 spot, but duos of Saiprakash Goli/Greyson Casey and Vincent Yang/Max Bengtsson were unable to finish the job.
Singles were a different story. Bengtsson, a senior from Winnetka, Illinois, was the first to avenge his doubles loss, picking up the ‘Cats first point of the weekend with a 6-2, 6-2 win. Nordby then gave NU the lead with his second win of the day, 7-5, 6-2.
Northwestern continued to keep its foot on the gas as Yang and Goli wrapped up the event with straight-set wins of their own. Goli, who has started 19 straight singles matches from the No. 1 position, snapped a seven-match winless streak in addition to clinching a team victory. While the Wildcats looked solid on Friday, they had a completely different animal coming to Evanston for senior day.
Bengtsson, Goli, and Nordby were all honored before Northwestern’s matchup with Ohio State on Sunday. The Buckeyes (22-2, 11-0 B1G) did not care. The ‘Cats’ inferiority to the No. 4 juggernaut showed from wire-to-wire, as they were unable to pick up a singular set across nine matches.
Head coach Arvid Swan switched up the doubles pairings but saw the same results as Friday. Casey and Yang lost 6-3 from the No. 2 position, while the senior duo of Bengtsson and Goli dropped their final match in Evanston 6-2. Led by the nation’s No. 10 player, Aidan Kim, Ohio State also handily swept singles. The Buckeyes’ road victory clinched their third consecutive Big Ten regular season title.
Northwestern’s women’s team suffered a similar fate on Saturday, dropping their senior day match to Illinois (11-11, 6-5 B1G), 4-1. The ‘Cats’ top doubles pairing of Britany Lau and Mika Dagan Fruchtman was no match for Megan Heuser and Kida Ferrari, losing 6-1. The Illini then secured the doubles point on court No. 3 as McKenna Schaefbauer and Kasia Treiber defeated Neena Feldman and Kiley Rabjohns, 6-3.
Illinois quickly took control of singles as well, getting out to a 3-0 lead with victories on the top two courts. However, in a bright spot, senior Sydney Pratt was able to pick up a come-from-behind victory in her Evanston farewell, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Rabjohns, a senior from Lake Forest, Illinois, also led her final match 6-2, 5-5, before it was called as Illinois had clinched the event with a win on court No. 6.
The women’s loss to NU’s in-state rival comes with an especially bitter taste, as the Wildcats entered ranked No. 44 nationally — a mere one spot ahead of the No. 45 Illini. Head coach Claire Pollard’s squad also fell to 12th in the Big Ten, currently placing them in the final spot for the conference tournament. Although the ‘Cats still control their own destiny, there is little wiggle room with Penn State lurking behind at an identical 4-7 (luckily, Northwestern holds the head-to-head tiebreaker).
Similarly, the men rank ninth in the Big Ten, with only 10 teams qualifying for the conference tournament. Three teams stand one game back of the Wildcats, meaning it will take a west-coast sweep against Washington and Oregon to guarantee a bid for Swan’s team.