Northwestern Tennis Teams Begin Big Ten Play With Ranked Wins
Northwestern's men's and women's tennis teams began Big Ten play two weekends ago and are already off to strong starts.
The men (10-8) are 3-1 in four conference matches played, with all three wins coming against ranked opponents. Northwestern was the only unranked men's Big Ten team in the March 11 ITA team rankings, but successfully took down then-No. 58 Wisconsin, No. 51 Indiana and No. 60 Purdue. The 'Cats' lone loss came against No. 49 Nebraska on March 9.
Northwestern's win over the Boilermakers was a thriller that came down to the wire. With the match knotted at three apiece, the contest came down to No. 3 singles, where sophomore Greyson Casey defeated Purdue's Henrik Villanger with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 victory to clinch a Wildcat win.
On the women's side, No. 38 Northwestern (9-7, 2-2 Big Ten) was swept in its March 7 opener at No. 15 Wisconsin, but rebounded with consecutive victories over then-No. 60 Minnesota and No. 58 Nebraska.
The Wildcat women, however, were on the other side from the men of a 4-3 match to close out the weekend, narrowly falling to No. 49 Iowa on Sunday. Northwestern held a 3-2 advantage with two courts remaining, but the 'Cats experienced a pair of third-set defeats to break even at 2-2 in Big Ten play.
The Northwestern men will host No. 22 USC and No. 40 UCLA on Friday and Sunday, while the Wildcat women will host No. 19 Washington and unranked Oregon on Saturday and Monday, respectively.
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Gavin Dorsey is the Lead Writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI and covers a handful of other teams in the On SI network. Before joining On SI in February 2025, he wrote for the Star Tribune and Inside NU while broadcasting college sports for both radio and television. Dorsey is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, where he also studied psychology. In his free time, he enjoys running and being outdoors. Dorsey is currently a freelance writer for the Associated Press, covering Chicago area sports teams.