After a convincing 6-1 rout of No. 32 Ohio State last weekend, the No. 17 ranked Irish head to Fayetteville, Ark. for this weekend's National Team Indoor qualifying tournament.
Notre Dame will face off against No. 29 Pepperdine in the first round and, with a win, will advance to take on either No. 17 Arkansas or Oregon in the finals.
"The competition should be very good this weekend," Irish coach Jay Louderback said. "Arkansas and Pepperdine are both ranked and are always very experienced teams."
The winner of this weekend's tournament will travel to Madison, Wisc. next month to participate in the National Team Indoor championships with 15 other teams from across the country.
Louderback really likes the way his team is coming together so far this season.
"Our doubles teams have looked very good in practice and the doubles point is always a key in dual matches," he said. "Our lineup is deep in the singles and doubles competitions with a good mix of upper and underclassmen."
Currently, the Irish's No. 1 doubles squad of senior Kelcy Tefft and freshman Kristy Frilling is the top ranked doubles team in the nation. The pair had a very strong fall season finishing with a record of 13-1 and got out to good start this season against Ohio State winning their match 8-3.
The Irish are really excited about the season that lies ahead of them and, after the early-winter layoff, are just glad to be playing real matches again.
"We were really excited to start playing against last weekend," Louderback said. "This is a team that just really enjoys competing."
