The No. 15 Wildcats will play No. 4 Ohio State on Friday in Columbus with a Big Ten regular season title in their sights. One class in particular is responsible for NU's rise.
Northwestern Men's Tennis coach Arvid Swan had spoken for years of trying to elevate his program to a level where it could compete for Big Ten championships. Since taking the job in 2008, he'd made serious progress. He guided Northwestern to its first NCAA tournament win in 15 years in 2013. But he hadn't yet pieced together a unit that had the goods to capture the conference championship.