Notre Dame beat Indiana and Wright State in a doubleheader on Sunday, with 4-3 and 7-0 victories respectively. The Irish snapped a two-game losing streak after dropping matches at Louisville and Ohio State.
The first match, against the Indiana Hoosiers, ended in thrilling fashion as the match came down to the wire. Indiana had taken the doubles point after a decisive 6-4 win at the No. 2 doubles spot. In singles competition, three matches came down to three sets and Notre Dame went up 3-2 after freshman Ally Bojczuk’s win. Senior Brooke Broda however, was unable to clinch the victory after falling in three sets.
The match came down to freshman Cameron Corse versus Indiana senior Xiwei Cai. Corse fell behind 1-5 in the third set and was one game away from losing the match for the Irish. The freshman responded by winning six straight games for a 7-5 victory, clinching the 4-3 win for the Irish.
Irish head coach Jay Louderback said he was happy with Corse’s comeback performance.
“We needed that, we lost a couple of close matches — our last two on the road,” he said. “[The team] had a chance to come home and play a good Indiana team, we knew it was going to be tight. Cameron Corse, as a freshman, came back from 5-1 down,” he said. “She shows, [that] no matter what the score is you keep playing, don’t give up. She was in such a hole but was unbelievably positive the whole time, even though she was down 5-1, and came back.”
The match against Wright State was much more manageable for the Irish as they swept the doubles and singles competitions. The doubleheader called for a long day of tennis but Louderback said the team's preparation paid off.
“We knew coming in that the first one [against Indiana] was going to be a long one,” he said. “We were just prepared knowing that we were going to have to turn around and play another match right afterwards. We have three different times this year where we play two matches in a day and it gets long but, it’s just something we have to do to get enough matches in. I felt like we’re in good shape, our [athletes] have worked hard and [are] in good shape. In the summer you play tournaments where you play two [matches] in a day so, the [players] are used to this.”
Louderback said new changes made in practice have started to show results.
“We felt like we’ve just not played big points well — in tight situations — we just haven’t played well and come through,” he said. “In practice, this week, we made things where they meant a lot more so our [players] were under pressure more in practice, and we felt like that really carried over into our match today.”
The Irish will return to the court Saturday for another home doubleheader against ACC rival Pittsburgh and Bowling Green.
