The Irish will have their first full-team meet in three weeks over Fall Break at the Regional Qualifying tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich.
The team's most recent event, the All-American Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Palisades, Calif., brought success from many fronts, including advancing to quarterfinals for junior Kristy Frilling and progression to round of 16 by junior pair Frilling and Shannon Mathew. Now the whole team will join this dynamic duo on the court Oct. 21-22.
The first all-team meet at the Eck Classic paired many of Irish teammates against each other, which included senior Kristin Rafael defeating freshman Britney Sanders in the singles' Blue division title match. This weekend, Notre Dame will face tough opposition beyond their teammates.
"It's at Michigan, so the Michigan players will definitely provide some tough competition," Frilling said. "They're playing on their home courts and they're a good team so they will come out fighting."
With the weeklong break, Notre Dame gets some time to rest, but hopefully not enough time to get off their game. According to Frilling, they should have no problems with that, and will benefit from the gap between meets.
"I don't think the week off influences our play next week too much," she said. "If anything, the week off from matches was needed because we all played so much the week before in our tournaments."
The team will have plenty of preparation time, filling in the gaps they've noticed at previous points in the season.
"We've gotten some good solid practices in, and those will help us compete well at regionals," Frilling said.
The Irish will travel to Ann Arbor on Oct. 21, with qualifying rounds taking place Thursday and Friday. The Midwest Regional official matches begin Oct. 22 and continue through Oct. 26.
