July 23, 2009
The 2008-09 athletic year at Northwestern University was one to be remembered. Filled with a plethora of memorable wins, honors and championships, there was much to be celebrated this past year in Evanston. Be sure to follow along at NUsports.com through August 10 as a look back is taken at just some of the numerous highlights the Wildcats experienced.
Recap: Big Ten Championship Photo Gallery
Recap: Big Ten Tournament Photo Gallery
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's countdown of its top 15 stories of the 2008-09 academic year continues Wednesday with No. 13, a story that has become an annual rite of spring in Evanston. Claire Pollard guided NU's women's tennis team to its 11th straight Big Ten title in her 11th season as head coach, extending the 'Cats' dual-match winning streak against conference opponents to 77 in the process.
"I'm really proud of this group because it gets tougher every year with everyone making such a big deal about our streak," Pollard said after NU's tournament-clinching win over Michigan.
The attention is certainly valid considering the dominant and convincing fashion in which Northwestern--which finished the year with a 28-2 record--completed its undefeated Big Ten season. The Wildcats swept 11 of their 13 conference matches and won 67 of 69 completed league singles matches in 2009.
After wrapping up the league championship with a 7-0 shutout of Penn State on Senior Day, NU traveled to Madison, Wis., to vie for its 11th consecutive Big Ten Tournament title. After dismissing Minnesota and Ohio State in the opening rounds, the Wildcats squared off against Michigan in the final match for the fifth straight year. The Wolverines managed to steal a win at No. 3 doubles, but Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui closed out a tightly contested match at No. 1 to seal the doubles point.
Pollard's squad didn't look back after that as Keri Robison and Rose notched wins to set up the clinching victory by Maria Mosolova at No. 1 over Michigan's Chisako Sugiyama.
Northwestern's run of 11 consecutive league titles ranks as the second-longest championship streak in the history of any Big Ten women's sport. Next spring, NU has a chance to pull even in the record books with the 12 straight women's swimming and diving championships won by Michigan from 1987-98.