[NU Sports] In other NU sports ...

[Tom Maycock]

Fellow list member Shawn Folkes and I enjoyed a rare double-header of NU sports dominance on Saturday. 

First, we watched the Lacrosse team absolutely destroy Rutgers. It's hard to capture how completely NU dominated this game, but the final score (24-1) and the shot totals (42-7) give some idea. 

Granted, Rutgers isn't very good, but there seems to be no doubt that NU is very, very good again this year. While a blowout isn't nearly as fun as a close, hard-fought win, it was nice see an NU team completely overwhelm an opponent for change. Syracuse comes to town next Sunday. Should be a much better test.

Next up was NU women's tennis against Indiana, conveniently located just steps from the Lacrosse stadium. And what a deal this is: free admission, seats with a great view of the action, and free Poppa John's pizza, all while you get to watch the #1 ranked team in the country. 

NU swept the doubles matches fairly handily, and sealed the overall match with fairly easy wins on the top four singles courts. The battle on the sixth court (also an NU win) took longer, but the epic match was on the 5th court. 

Keri Robison won the first set, but found herself tired, frustrated, and in deep trouble in the second sent. She was serving down 5-4 in the second, but battled through countless duece/advantage points to win the game. Unfortunately, she lost the next game quickly to lose the second set 6-5. 

Because the overall match was already settled, they played a 10 point tie-breaker rather than a full set. This was real edge-of-the seat stuff, with NU's Robison finally prevailing at the end. She would have been in deep trouble in a full 3rd set, but showed huge guts and desire to hang in there for the win. The event will go down in the books as a clean sweep for NU, but that doesn't reveal the personal dedication required to make it happen. 

I believe there's another tennis/Lacrosse double-header the first weekend in April, although the start times overlap more. A highly recommended way to enjoy two fine NU sports teams. 

Tom