'Cats Open Big Ten Competition with Matches at Iowa and Nebraska

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Northwestern women's tennis opens Big Ten play on the road by traveling to No. 45 Iowa to face off on Friday, March 6 at 5 p.m. CT before heading to Nebraska for a match on Sunday, March 8 at noon CT.

Last time out (Feb. 22), the Wildcats (7-4) defeated DePaul, 6-1, inside Combe Tennis Center. Northwestern opened the match by claiming the doubles point, led by a 6-1 victory at No. 2 by sophomore Erica Jessel and first-year Margot Phanthala. Junior Autumn Rabjohns, the team's No. 3 in singles, was the first to finish her match with an authoritative 6-0, 6-1 victory. She won the first eight games of her match. Junior Neena Feldman, at No. 2, tabbed a 6-2, 6-1 win, and sophomore Mika Dagan Fruchtman clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-2 result.

Phanthala, who has played all of her matches at the No. 1 singles position this season, is ranked as the ITA's No. 69 singles player in the country, the 14th-ranked player in the Big Ten. She is the highest-ranked Northwestern player since Feb. 21, 2023, when Christina Hand was ranked No. 65. Additionally, she is the second-highest ranked first-year in the conference and the 10th-highest ranked first-year nationally. She is the highest-ranked Wildcat first-year since March 30, 2021, when Maria Shusharina was ranked No. 65. Phanthala has a 6-4 singles record this season.

Phanthala and Jessel are ranked as the No. 87 doubles pairing in the nation, the 17th-ranked team in the Big Ten. They are 3-1 on the season together. Feldman and Dagan Fructhman also crack the ITA's doubles rankings, slotting in as the No. 77 team in the nation.

Rabjohns and first-year Marelie Raath both have posted 7-2 singles records on the season. Raath's seven singles wins are the most by a Northwestern first-year since Sydney Pratt had 12 in the 2022 dual season. Raath has a team-best seven doubles wins with a 7-3 record, as she leads the team with 14 total wins.

The Wildcats lead the all-time series against the Hawkeyes (6-5), 47-3. Head Coach Claire Pollard is 28-1 against Iowa. The Hawkeyes had last weekend off but competed in the Arizona Invitational the weekend before, defeating Tulsa and No. 40 Arizona before falling to No. 32 Texas Tech. Iowa is led by Mia Mack, the No. 87 singles player nationally, and has an 8-2 record at the No. 1 and 2 singles lines. Mack and Daianne Hayashida rank as the No. 25 doubles team nationally, posting a 7-2 record at the No. 1 slot.

Northwestern has won 12 straight matches against the Cornhuskers (7-2) dating back to 2014. The Wildcats lead the all-time series against Nebraska, 17-2. Most recently, the Cornhuskers defeated Charleston Southern, 4-0. Katie Spencer, who has played at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles slots this season, has a 5-2 record on the season, and Natalia Trigosso, primarily the team's singles No. 6, sits at 5-0 on the campaign.

Northwestern continues its road stretch when it travels to Urbana-Champaign, Ill., to face Illinois on Saturday, March 14, at 1 p.m. CT.

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