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No. 8 Northwestern women’s tennis rebounded from a loss at Michigan to pick up two wins over the weekend, topping Nebraska 4-2 and Iowa 4-3. The men’s team fell to Illinois 4-1 on the road.
Women’s tennis
NU used a strong singles performance to beat the 46th-ranked Cornhuskers (6-3) after dropping the doubles point. Maria Shusharina (first singles), Clarissa Hand (third singles), Briana Crowley (fourth singles) and Christina Hand (sixth singles) all emerged victorious to earn NU the four points necessary for their 11th win of the season. Clarissa Hand and Crowley both took their final two sets 6-0, 6-3 after losing the first set.
The Wildcats, despite facing a tighter match against Iowa, swept the season series with the Hawkeyes, 4-3. Northwestern once again dropped the doubles point, as only the tandem of the Hand sisters won their second doubles match. Iowa’s Elise Treadwell took down Clarissa Hand 6-1, 6-3 in second singles to give her team a 2-0 lead, but straight set victories from Caroline Pozo (fifth singles), Crowley (fourth singles) and Byrne (third singles) gave NU a 3-2 advantage before Alexa Noel (first singles) defeated Shusharina in straight sets to level the match.
Christina Hand (sixth singles) came up big, dispatching Vipasha Mehra 6-3, 6-3 to break the tie and give the ‘Cats the victory.
NU is now 12-2 (9-1 Big Ten). Nine conference wins is tied for the program’s most since the 2017-18 season, when it went 11-0. The Wildcats next play Purdue on Saturday at noon CT at home.
Full scores from both matches can be viewed here: Nebraska, Iowa.
Men’s tennis
Northwestern fell to Illinois 4-1 in its sole match of the weekend. The Wildcats won the doubles point behind strong performances from the duos of Chris Ephron/Dominik Stary and Gleb Blekher/Natan Spear. They then lost four straight singles matches in short order to end the match. The loss brings NU to 5-4 (4-3 Big Ten) on the season, with matchups at Purdue and Indiana looming this weekend.
View full scores here.