Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 EVANSTON, Ill. (April 24, 2023) – No. 74 Northwestern women’s tennis (11-12, 7-4 B1G) couldn’t have scripted a better finish to its final weekend of regular season play, as it picked up 4-0 wins over No. 53 Iowa and No. 68 Nebraska, respectively, inside the Combe Tennis Center. The Wildcats enter the postseason as one of the Big Ten’s hottest teams, having won six of their last seven contests.
IOWA RECAP
Entertaining an Iowa team that had won three of its last four matches, Northwestern jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Saturday following doubles wins from the pairings of Briana Crowley and Justine Leong (6-3) and Christina Hand and Sydney Pratt (6-4).
Hand was on a mission to open singles play, picking up back-to-back 6-1 set victories to dispatch Barbora Pokorna and push the Wildcats’ lead, 2-0. Aino Alkio added a win in straight sets of her own, downing Pia Kranholdt by a 6-3, 6-4 final before Sydney Pratt closed out the match, bouncing back from a 6-0 first-set defeat against Vipasha Mehra with a 6-0 win of her own in the second set on her way to a 0-6, 6-0, 6-2 triumph.
?????????? start to the weekend! #GoCats pic.twitter.com/gmAKMgoK9i
— NU Women’s Tennis (@NUWildcatTennis) April 22, 2023
NEBRASKA RECAP
Following an emotional Senior Day ceremony in which Alkio and Crowley were both honored, the ‘Cats wasted no time in stepping on the gas in Sunday’s home finale. Hand and Pratt rolled to a 6-0 win ahead of a 6-2 victory from Alkio and Maria Shusharina that saw the Wildcats claim the doubles point and open a 1-0 edge.
The duo of Crowley and Alkio kept Northwestern rolling in singles action. Crowley made short work of Ana Carmen Zamburek (6-2, 6-2), while Alkio closed out a 2-0 weekend in singles play with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Jillian Roa. Shusharina sent a boisterous crowd home happy, putting away Isabel A. Gallego (6-1, 7-5).
Senior Day ??????! #GoCats pic.twitter.com/4H1Rpd9tx8
— NU Women’s Tennis (@NUWildcatTennis) April 23, 2023
LOOKING AHEAD
By virtue of its finish in the final Big Ten Conference standings, Northwestern will be seeded fifth for the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Tournament, which will be…
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