Over the weekend, Notre Dame defeated Florida State 4-3 in a home conference matchup Friday at Eck Tennis Pavilion. Two days later, the Irish traveled to Durham, North Carolina for another conference matchup against No. 10 Duke, where they lost 4-1 at the Ambler Tennis Center.
During Friday’s matchup, the Irish (10-9, 4-6 ACC) controlled most of the singles competition, winning four of the six matches. On court No. 2, junior Monica Robinson won her match 6-4, 6-2, followed by a victory by sophomore Allison Miller 6-2, 6-4 on court No. 3. Sophomore Brooke Broda won her match 6-1, 6-4 on court No. 5 and on court No. 6, junior Jane Fennelly earned a hard fought 7-6(5), 6-2 win. On court No. 1, however, senior Quinn Gleason was defeated 6-4, 6-3. The other Irish singles loss was junior Mary Closs, who won the first set 6-4 before narrowly losing the last two sets 7-6(3), 6-3 on court No. 4. In the doubles competition, the team of Gleason and Robinson won 6-4 on court No. 1. The teams of senior Julie Vrabel and Closs, and Broda and Miller both lost 6-3 on courts No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. On Sunday, the Irish had a tougher time, winning only one singles matchup as Broda claimed a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory on court No. 5. On court No. 1, Gleason lost 7-6, 6-3, followed by a Robinson 6-3, 6-3 loss on court No. 2 and a Miller 6-3, 6-4 loss on court No. 3. Closs won her first set 7-6(5) before losing the second set 6-4 and was losing 4-0 in the deciding set when the match was discontinued on court No. 4. Fennelly won her first two sets 6-4 and 5-3 before her match was discontinued on court No. 6. In the doubles competition, Gleason and Robinson fought the 13th ranked Duke (15-3, 8-2, ACC) pairing of senior Beatrice Capra and and freshman Ellyse Hamlin to a 4-4 on court No. 1. The teams of Closs and Vrabel, and Broda and Miller both lost on courts No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, however, discontinuing Gleason and Robinson's match. Irish head coach Jay Louderback said he was pleased with his team’s performance in both matches, even with the quick turnaround and traveling to North Carolina immediately after playing Florida State. “I thought we played really well in the singles in both matches,” Louderback said. “Playing at Duke was a quick turnaround after playing at home on Friday, but our team responded well and had a chance to get the win.” Fennelly's performance stood out to Louderback, he said, as the Rathmines, Ireland native won her contest in the Florida State contest and was leading against Duke freshman Christina Makarova before the match was discontinued. “Brooke Broda went 2-0 and Jane Fennelly was up against Duke when the match was stopped or she could have been 2-0,” Louderback said. “Jane also was the last match on against FSU and clinched it for us. She did a great job of doing the things we have been working on and it really paid off.” This is the time of year when the locations of matches —indoors or outdoors — is uncertain due to weather conditions, but Louderback said he believes his team has the ability to perform well regardless of the setting. “I feel like we are prepared to play both indoors and outdoors at this time of year,” Louderback said. The Irish are back in action on Friday when they take on Clemson in a conference matchup at Eck Tennis Pavilion on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Tigers (8-7, 6-4 ACC) are coming off of a 7-0 loss against Miami on Saturday. Following the Clemson match, Notre Dame will host a doubleheader on Sunday against conference opponent Georgia Tech in the morning and Eastern Illinois in the afternoon.
