Notre Dame is set to take on conference foe Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Friday.
Irish head coach Ryan Sachire said he expects a challenge from the Hokies (6-8, 1-3 ACC).
“Virginia Tech is a good team,” Sachire said. “It’s going to be a tough match. It’s on the road down in Blacksburg, and any road match in the ACC is going to be a challenging one and we know that. We’re expecting it to be really close and really competitive and we’re going to have to earn everything that we get. We played them now the last three years and all of the matches have been ultra-competitive. We expect the same thing this time around and hopefully we can go down there and play well and compete well and come out with a win.”
The Irish (9-6, 1-2) are coming off of hosting a doubleheader in which they lost to No. 2 Virginia 6-1 and beat DePaul 7-0.
Against Virginia, freshman Guillermo Cabrera recorded the only singles victory for the Irish, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in singles. Against DePaul, however, the Irish won across the board in singles and doubles.
Sachire said his team will go through the same practice routine they usually go through to prepare for the Hokies.
“[We'll] get the week going with a practice on Monday and kind of build as the week goes on,” Sachire said. “We’ll leave on Thursday morning and get a good practice in down there on the courts in Blacksburg and be ready to tee it up on Friday. It’s not a long week. We only have a few days to prepare, so we have to be pretty efficient with our preparation and get a good practice in on Thursday when we’re down there.”
Sachire said his message to his team before the match will be to play aggressive and play to the level he knows they are capable of playing.
“We know we’re a good team and we know they’re a good team and we’re going to need to play well to win,” Sachire said. “I think it’s about getting our guys to perform at their optimal level and if they feel relaxed and confident, they’ll have the best chance to do that.”
The ACC match begins at 3 p.m. on Friday.
