The Wildcat’s Women’s Tennis team (5-4, 1-0 B1G) kept rolling in their first Big Ten game of the season, and fought hard for a 4-0 win versus Indiana (8-5, 0-1 B1G).

Northwestern started off very poorly, and found themselves in a deep hole on all three courts. On Court 2, it looked as if Clarissa Hand and Inci Ogut were overmatched; they were down 0-3 and it took nearly two games for them to score a point. However, the duo made an emphatic comeback to steal the match from the Hoosiers by a score of 6-3. Doubles pair Christina Hand and Caroline Pozo sealed the doubles point for the ‘Cats and won their match 6-4 on Court 3.

Julie Byrne, a strong senior leader and first singles on the team, was named Big Ten Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week for her performance last weekend. This is the first time Byrne has earned the honor this season, and the second time in her career. She continued her beautiful play versus Indiana this weekend, and finished off her opponent in singles play 6-4, 6-4.

In her first game of the match, Byrne started out strong with an early lead of 4-1. Caitlin Bernard of Indiana did not back down, and responded by tying the match 4-4. However, it was Byrne who wanted it more, as she pulled away with a 6-4 victory. She won the set with a beautiful dominant slam. She capped this performance off with an even better showing in the second set. Byrne won again by a score of 6-4, and clinched the 4-0 win for the ‘Cats.

On the other courts, Northwestern had no problem handling Indiana. Hannah McColgan easily beat her opponent and promptly won both of her sets to give Northwestern a 2-0 lead. On Court 2, Inci Ogut also outplayed her opponent and secured the third win for Northwestern.

This was Northwestern’s second shut-out in less than two weeks, and the ‘Cats are looking hot.