After competing in the TCU invite, in Fort Worth, Texas, two weeks ago, Northwestern’s women’s tennis team sent some of its top performers back to Fort Worth to compete in the ITA Division I Women’s Central Sectional Championships.
To qualify for the singles tournament the players had to have a strong showing in the ITA Division I Regional Championships for the Midwest region and qualify for the sectionals. Many of the ‘Cats had top performances through the round of 64 and 32, however, Erica Jessel
was the only Wildcat that was able to break through the round of 32 and compete in the round of 16.
Jessel held her own in the round of 16 match against University of Illinois junior standout, Ariel Madatali, but was defeated in a two-set sweep. Jessel’s performance stood out, nonetheless, and allowed her to compete this weekend as the only Wildcat competing in singles competition, against Valerie Shue of Texas Tech.
Thursday morning, the first day of matches, is when Jessel faced off with Valerie in the round of 32. Unlike her regionals performance, Jessel was unable to make it out of the round. Jessel lost in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, as Valerie advanced, but would later get eliminated in the round of 16.
Following the singles competitions was the doubles. The Wildcats had the duo of Marelie Raath and Neena Feldman represent the team after they dominated their way to the round of 16 in the Midwest Regional Championships.
Raath and Feldman got to the round of 16 by fiercely beating a Bradley University duo 8-3 in the round of 64 and a Wisconsin duo 8-4 in the round of 32. Just like Jessel in the singles, a close match in the round of 16 is when the ‘Cats were sent home losing narrowly to the University of Notre Dame duo Anastasia Sysoeva and Sophia Holod, who would later get shut out in the quarterfinals.
Despite the loss, the performance of Raath and Feldman still allowed them to compete at Central Sectional this weekend where they tried to hold their ground but were beaten in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, by Ohio State duo Teah Chavez and Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev in the round of 32.
The Wildcats had a tough showing at regionals this weekend, after both Jessel playing in the singles and Raath and Feldman playing in the doubles were bounced in the first round. However, the competition still proved that the ‘Cats can compete with high-level performance as they look toward their final set of competition for the fall when they compete in the NCAA Division I Singles and Doubles Tennis Championships in Athens, Georgia from Nov. 17 to Nov. 22.
