Lau and the ‘Cats took on the field at the ITA Sectional Championships.
Northwestern women’s tennis traveled to Ann Arbor last weekend for the ITA Sectional Championships. The tournament, which went from Thursday to Sunday, featured singles players and doubles pairings from schools in the ITA’s “Central, Midwest and Texas region” all battling it out to be the last team standing.
For the ‘Cats, it was the Britany Lau show all weekend. As the only athlete from Northwestern to qualify for the singles tournament, Lau represented NU’s only shot at bringing home the trophy.
In the first round, Lau drew Iowa’s Marisa Schmidt. Lau was simply the better player, sending Schmidt packing like a poorly advertised Airbnb; it was an immediate exit. The first set wasn’t even competitive as Lau disposed of her opponent 6-1. In the second, Schmidt put up a bit more of a fight but fell 6-3 to give Lau a crack at the second round.
That was where Lau’s tournament ended, though, as she fell to Oklahoma’s Alina Shcherbinina. Lau got off to a good start, winning a nail biter of a first set 7-5 to put her in the driver’s seat, but she couldn’t capitalize on the early lead. In the second, Shcherbinina was much stronger and won 6-2. The third was closer–this time it was Lau who lost 7-5 in a heartbreaker–but close isn’t enough to continue playing tennis. Baseball be damned.
Lau’s singles run ended there, but she also competed in the doubles tournament with partner Mika Dagan Fruchtman. Lau’s a savvy, experienced graduate student, but Fruchtman is new to the program as a freshman and is someone to be excited about for the future.
The pairing had an impressive showing at the ITA sectionals, starting in the first round (the round of 16) against Piper Charney and Emily Sartz-Lunde of Michigan, the de facto home team. Charney and Sartz-Lunde proved to be a tough out with the crowd behind them, but Northwestern’s pairing got the job done in the end winning 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 to advance to the quarterfinals.
There, they encountered Tomi Main and Yu-Chin Tsai from down in the lone star state at TCU. Do Wildcats eat frogs? Unclear. But in this match it was clear that the ‘Cats were higher in the food chain. Lau and Fruchtman cruised their way to a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Then came the semis against Baylor’s Cristina Tiglea and Liubov Kostkenko. The ‘Cats took the first set to a tie break, but lost it 7-5, about as close as you can come to capturing a lead. That was all they had in the tank, as they dropped the second set 6-2, ending their tournament run.
That will be all for Northwestern women’s tennis this fall, and we will see the ‘Cats next in early January, though the specifics of that schedule have yet to be announced.