Claire Pollard has coached Northwestern women’s tennis since 1999. With the exception of 2020, when the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, her team has qualified for the Big Dance every single season — 23 straight springs. That streak came to an end this May.
Northwestern finished 12-13, quietly bowing out of the Big Ten Tournament to No. 21 Wisconsin by a score of 4-0. However, the record doesn’t tell the full story. A mind-boggling nine of those 25 games came against top-30 teams, whom the ‘Cats went 0-9 against. NU dealt with one of the more difficult non-conference schedules in recent memory, as it endured a stretch in which it had to face seven top-75 squads in a row.