Indiana

Northwestern secures Senior Day victory versus Indiana

Published

2 years ago

April 15, 2024

Northwestern secures Senior Day victory versus Indiana

Northwestern’s weekend match against Indiana marked its final time playing at Combe Tennis Center this year.

Before Sunday’s match play began, coach Claire Pollard gave a short speech about each departing player’s time with the program. Soon after, the Wildcats (17-5, 8-1 Big Ten) cruised by the Hoosiers (6-18, 0-10 Big Ten) in a 4-0 triumph.

The victory finalized NU’s 11-0 home record this season, the program’s most home wins in a season since 2017-2018.

Pollard’s team nabbed the doubles point for the sixth match in a row, and like each match over the past two weeks, the group did so in dominant fashion. Pollard called the doubles point the “unsung hero” for the squad’s recent success.

The No. 1 pairing of graduate student Christina Hand and senior Justine Leong, ranked No. 57 in the nation, defeated Saby Nihalani and Li Hsin Lin 6-1. The duo’s chemistry has led them to drop only two games in their last four matches.

“When we play together, I know what she’s going to do before she does it and she knows what I’m going to do.” Hand said in her Senior Spotlight on the team’s Instagram page. “It’s sort of an unspoken kind of thing.”

One court to their left, the No. 2 team of senior Maria Shusharina and graduate student Britany Lau clinched the doubles point for the ’Cats by winning 6-2. Shusharina and Lau played their last three matches at the No. 3. The pairing is now on a four-match winning streak.

Graduate student Elisa Van Meeteren — who hadn’t played a doubles match in almost two months — replaced freshman Neena Feldman in the lineup. She and junior Sydney Pratt were up 5-3 at the No. 3 doubles slot when doubles play concluded.

The ’Cats kicked off singles play with two quick victories. No. 1 Shusharina won 6-1, 6-3, extending her match win streak to nine. After a short three match stint at the No. 4, Hand moved back to the No. 3 Sunday and swiftly prevailed 6-2, 6-2.

“(Sydney took) a couple of losses in her last matches, and Christina didn’t, so I felt like it was the right thing to make the switch back again,” Pollard said.

In her three matches at the No. 3 slot, Pratt went 1-2, while Hand was 3-0 at the No. 4 slot. Returning to her more familiar No. 4 slot, Pratt was in position to win 6-3, 5-4 when the match concluded.

The player to clinch the victory for NU was none other than a senior playing her last career match inside Combe Tennis Center — Leong. After dominating the first set 6-1, Leong found herself in a tense second set tiebreak.

After originally leading the set 4-1, the senior found herself in a 5-2 hole to Elisabeth Dunac in the set’s tiebreak. She won three consecutive points to even the score at 5-5.

Dunac double faulted, allowing Leong to serve for the match at 6-5. A 40 second rally then ensued, and Dunac attempted an inside-out forehand that flew out, giving Leong the critical 6-1, 7-6(5) victory.

“(Leong’s) done a great job for us,” Pollard said. “(She) won a convincing first set, and I felt like she let (Dunac) in a little bit but then she got in there and got more disciplined and was a little more aggressive. At 4-2 (in the tiebreak), I walked over there and said, ‘Come on, you got to win this match.’”

Leong’s heroics — winning five consecutive points — capped off Senior Day with a ’Cats victory. Hand, her doubles teammate, stormed the court and picked up Leong, embodying the love between teammates cultivated over playing doubles together for three seasons.

No. 5 junior Kiley Rabjohns was amid a potential comeback when matchplay halted. Her scoreline read 5-7, 6-0, 1-1. On the opposite side of Combe Tennis Center, No. 6 Lau was also in the middle of a third set after losing the second set. The match was unfinished 6-4, 2-6, 1-2.

NU will travel to Columbus to take on Ohio State Friday afternoon. Currently, the two teams are tied for second in the Big Ten with 8-1 records.

Email: [email protected]

X: @CharlieSpungin

Related Stories:

— Captured: Women’s Tennis: Northwestern takes care of business against Indiana

— Women’s Tennis: Northwestern defeats Purdue 4-1 with strong matchplay start

— Women’s Tennis: Northwestern’s weekend defeat to Wisconsin overturned

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Indiana

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Published

6 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Former UConn forward, NBC Sports broadcaster Donny Marshall knows a thing or two about talented UConn guards.

The former Husky played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun and was teammates with the fifth pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, 10-time NBA All-Star Ray Allen. Watching UConn play against Butler on Tuesday night, Marshall said he sees a lot of Allen in reigning Indiana Mr. Basketball Braylon Mullins.

Mullins made the second start of his career against the Bulldogs. The former Greenfield-Central star missed UConn’s first six games of the regular season with an injury, but the 6-foot-6 guard is quickly coming into his own and showing why he’s a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Against Butler, Mullins showed off his sweet jump shot, going 2 for 5 from 3-point range. He finished with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.

“He’s a scorer,” Butler coach Thad Matta said of Mullins. “He’s got a scorer’s mentality. He gets his shot off quick. They move him around and create some angles for him. Obviously, he’s a heck of a player.”

Mullins did most of his damage in the first half, scoring eight of his 12 points before halftime. The former five-star recruit was the highest-ranked player in UConn’s 2025 class. Butler’s top-ranked recruit, Azavier “Stink” Robinson isn’t the NBA prospect Mullins is, but he held his own after a shaky start to the game.

Robinson has been thrust into the starting lineup with starter Jalen Jackson out for the season with an ankle injury. Robinson looked out of sorts at times in the first half, going scoreless with two assists and a turnover. In the second half, Matta moved him off the ball, giving him catch-and-shoot looks, and opportunities to drive to the basket without worrying about running the offense.

The former Lawrence North star responded with one of the better halves of his career, scoring 10 points on 3 for 6 shooting, including 2 for 5 from 3 to go along with two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one turnover.

Facing a veteran team like UConn, nothing comes easy. UConn’s guards harass ball handlers and getting into an offensive set is not easy. This time last year, Robinson was still in high school and, on most nights, the most athletic player on the court. Playing a UConn team where the goal is a national championship, Robinson was forced to grow, and he did not back down from the challenge in the second half.

“He’s coming along,” Matta said of Robinson. “That’s the first Big East road game of his career against maybe the best team in the country. It tells you how tough he is. He’s resilient. He keeps going.”

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Indiana

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Published

18 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Curt Cignetti has been named The Associated Press coach of the year in college football for the second consecutive season. He is the first coach to win the award back-to-back since it was first presented in 1998. Cignetti has led Indiana to unprecedented success, with a 24-2 record over two seasons. The Hoosiers are 13-0 this year, Big Ten champions for the first time since 1967, and the top seed in the College Football Playoff. Cignetti received 47 first-place votes. Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea received two each, and Virginia’s Tony Elliott got one.

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Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS — Some schools in central Indiana are planning to close or delay the start of their classes on Tuesday.

The closures and delays come in the wake of a difficult weekend of severe winter weather in the Hoosier State. On Saturday, a wintry system dumped more than six inches of snow in some portions of the state.

Points north of Indianapolis like Lafayette received between three and four inches of snow. Towns south of the Circle City like Seymour saw similar snowfall totals. As for Indianapolis itself, more than five inches of snow were recorded in some portions of the city.

After Saturday’s snow, frigid temperatures took hold in the area. A Cold Weather Advisory was issued for much of the state as wind chill values dipped well below zero.

The cold and snow triggered a bevy of school closings and delays for Monday. Schools began to announce delays and closures for Tuesday late Monday night as snow removal crews across the state continued to try to keep roadways clear.

Though some schools plan to close or delay the start of classes on Tuesday, temperature improvements are forecasted. High temperatures are anticipated to exceed the 32-degree freezing threshold and hit 36 degrees. The warming trend is expected to continue on both Wednesday and Thursday, with high temperatures forecasted to reach 40 and 50 degrees, respectively.

Precipitation is forecasted for Thursday, though temperatures are expected to remain warm enough for Indiana to get rain instead of snow.

FOX59/CBS4 is tracking the closures and delays schools plan to implement on Tuesday. Check out the latest available list of closings below:

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