In 2006, Northwestern women's tennis added another championship to its recent dynasty, marking the eighth-straight Big Ten title for the Wildcats. Claire Pollard, a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year, has brought nothing but success to Evanston, winning the conference title in every year of her tenure. In 1999 she took over one of only four programs to have won the conference, and vaulted Northwestern into the national spotlight, finishing with a program-high ranking of No. 5 in 2005.

Her 2006 team included NCAA Doubles Champions Cristelle Grier and Alexis Prousis, which was just the second national championship by Big Ten representatives, with the other coming in 1997 from Katrina Adams and Diane Donnelly, also of Northwestern. Grier and Prousis ended their season ranked No. 3 as a tandem, and No. 10 and No. 36 in singles, respectively.

During the eight-year span, Pollard has coached 12 student-athletes to a combined 24 first-team All-Big Ten honors, including a pair of four-time selections in Katherine Nasser (1997-2000) and Grier (2003-2006) and two three-time selections in Shannon Duffy (1998-00) and Jessica Rush (2002-04). Grier became the only three-time Big Ten Player of the Year in conference history when she received the honor in 2006, marking the fifth-consecutive year that a Wildcat has won the award. At the end of Grier's tenure in 2006, she boasted the most successful career in Big Ten history with a personal record of 46-1 in conference play, and was the program's first four-time All-American.

Northwestern also boasts four Freshman of the Year honorees during their streak, and three of the last four selections. Georgia Rose was the most recent recipient in 2006, and was preceded by Audra Cohen (2005) and Grier (2003).

In addition to their successes on the court, the Wildcats produced 28 Academic All-Big Ten honorees throughout the span.

Big Ten 25 Years of Women's Championships

Printer-friendly format	Email this article