'Cats Conclude Action at ITA Midwest Regional

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Northwestern women’s tennis sent a full complement to the ITA Midwest Regional, hosted by the University of Illinois, over the weekend. The ‘Cats competed in both singles and doubles action in the tournament, which featured competition from around the region.

Action began on Thursday, when five Wildcats competed in the qualifying rounds of singles play, seeking spots in the main draw. All five picked up first-round victories, including first-year Philippa Färber, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Färber, along with Aely Arai, Marelie Raath and Mika Dagan Fruchtman, won in straight sets to reach the round of 32, while Katya Shepherd Johnson battled to a closely contested 7-6 (3), 6-7 (9), 6-2 victory over UIC’s Nia Cooper.

Following their first-round victories, Färber, Arai, Raath and Dagan Fruchtman all defeated foes in the round of 32 as well to earn trips to the singles main draw. Dagan Fruchtman dropped just one game in her victory over Lorena Cedeno (Youngstown State), and Raath made it back-to-back straight-set wins with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Risa Ueno (Illinois). Arai split the first two sets before taking the third, 6-4, and Färber outlasted her opponent from Eastern Michigan with a tiebreak victory in the third set.

Friday brought the start of doubles action, with four Northwestern duos hitting the courts. All four pairs won their first matches of the day, advancing on to the round of 32. Dagan Fruchtman, partnered with Autumn Rabjohns, and Arai, partnered with Maia Loureiro, took tough defeats in the second round to drop out of the bracket. However, the ITA’s No. 85 doubles duo in the nation, Raath and Neena Feldman, punched their ticket to the round of 16 with an 8-4 win over their foes from Wisconsin. Additionally, Farber and Erica Jessel defeated opponents from Eastern Michigan to keep their tournament hopes alive.

Singles play resumed Friday afternoon. Along with the previous day’s qualifiers, Feldman, Jessel, Rabjohns and Loureiro opened their singles’ bids in the round of 64. Three of the eight competitors came away victorious, all in straight sets. Jessel was dominant in her 6-2, 6-0 win over Bowling Green’s McKenzie Shelton. Arai earned her spot in the next round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over conference foe Calla McGill (Michigan), while Rabjohns downed Michigan State’s Ellie Blackford 6-2, 6-1.

First up on Saturday was doubles. Despite valiant efforts in both matches, both Wildcat duos fell in the round of 16. Jessel and Farber dropped an 8-5 match to a pairing from NIU, while Raath and Feldman came up just short in a tiebreak loss to their opponents from Notre Dame.

In the singles round of 32, only Jessel came away victorious. After dropping the first set, Arai forced her match to an extra game in the second set before falling to Illinois’ Ariel Madatali 6-3, 7-5. Rabjohns bounced back from a first-set loss to sweep the second set, 6-0, but couldn’t quite close out the victory over Kimiko Cooper (Illinois) and fell in the final set, 7-5. For Jessel, the round brought a ranked victory over No. 115 Audrey Spencer of Ohio State, whom Jessel beat in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

The ‘Cats would finish off their weekend in the singles round of 16, where Jessel fell to Madatali 6-4, 6-3. Before action concluded, Dagan Fruchtman also picked up a victory in consolation singles action, defeating Mana Fawcett of Western Illinois.

Full Northwestern results from the ITA Midwest Regional can be found here, while all draws and results can be viewed here.

Northwestern will be back in action in two weeks’ time, when a selection of players will head south to Fort Worth for the TCU Invite from Oct. 23 to Oct. 25.