We’ve reached the end of Big Ten play on the courts, which means our attention turns to postseason play for Northwestern tennis. The No. 57 women’s team (14-11, 6-7 B1G) have locked down the no. 10-seed in the conference tournament after bouncing back from a narrow defeat at the hands of 45th-ranked Maryland (16-6, 8-5 B1G) to beat Rutgers (8-15, 1-12 B1G) on the road. As for the men (15-13, 3-10 B1G), they’ll be left on the outside looking in when it comes to the Big Ten Tournament after dropping its must-win match to No. 15 Illinois (21-6, 10-3 B1G) on Saturday. A loss to Nebraska a month previous ended up being their undoing, as the Cornhuskers’ head-to-head wins over NU and Penn State have given them the final bid to the conference tournament.
After splitting the first two matches in the doubles portion, Neena Feldman and Marelie Raath claimed a 6-3 win to secure the first point of the contest for the ‘Cats. The decisive win from the aforementioned duo of Feldman and Raath marked their fourth straight.
However, Feldman would undo her and her partner’s efforts in her singles match, suffering a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Magdalena Baniak to even the score. Margot Phanthala found a response for NU in the form of a ranked victory over No. 101 Oliwia Orlinska to surge the Wildcats in front, 2-1.
The back-and-forth affair between the ‘Cats and Terps’ continued, as Mika Dagan Fruchtman and Emma Ghirardato exchanged wins for their respective squads. On the brink of defeat, Tamari Gagoshidze grinded out a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) win on court six, leaving the contest in the hands of Diya Challa of Maryland and Erica Jessel of Northwestern at no. 4 singles.
The two traded 6-4 victories in the first two sets, but it was ultimately Challa that pushed Maryland across the finish line with a third set win.
A convincing Northwestern win on Sunday didn’t get off to the start that head coach Claire Pollard was seeking. The Scarlet Knights snatched the doubles point with a 6-3 win on court one and a 7-6 (7-2) win on court three. However, the Wildcats sprung in front with three straight singles wins from Jessel, Maia Loureiro — who secured her first win since March 22 against Purdue — and Feldman. Zuzanna Frankowska provided Rutgers its sole singles win on the day, defeating Autumn Rabjohns in come-from-behind fashion before Dagan Fruchtman shut the door with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 win at the no. 5 position.
The women’s squad readies to face no. 7-seeded Maryland in a Friday rematch on Thursday, April 23, at 1 p.m. CT on Big Ten Plus.
Facing its fifth ranked opponent in six matches, NU sought to recreate the same success it saw against then-No. 62 Indiana in the first weekend of the month, despite the absences of Carter Pate and Ethan Schiffman last Saturday. Unfortunately, t’wasn’t to be against its Big Ten rival.
The ‘Cats disputed the doubles point, finding a win at the no. 1 position, courtesy of Greyson Casey and Chad Miller to knot up the score at one apiece after Owen Megargee and Cooper Han’s earlier loss. However, Gabriel Debru and Sasha Colleu upended Cyrus Mahjoob and Vincent Yang, 6-3, to take the point for the Illini.
From there, Illinois placed a death grip on the match to sweep the contest. Adam Jilly claimed the first win for the Illini, conceding only one set to Han at no. 4 singles. Tyler Bowers and No. 103 William Mroz followed suit to conclude senior day in Champaign with a dominant win for Illinois.
The end-of-season gauntlet proved too tall a task for the Northwestern men’s team to handle. The ‘Cats finish the season without recording a single point in any of their final three matches. They’ll lose Pate, who tied for the team lead in wins, as the 2026 season concludes.