Heading into the weekend on a four-game win streak, the Irish dropped a 5-2 loss to Iowa on Saturday but rebounded with a 6-1 victory over Purdue on Sunday.
Losing to the Hawkeyes 5-2 (7-4) in doubles and singles Saturday afternoon at the Eck Tennis Pavilion, Notre Dame (7-3, 1-1 ACC) turned the loss around the next day day, beating Purdue (6-5) 6-1 and winning five of the six singles matches.
During the first match against Iowa, the Irish lost doubles, as Iowa’s duo of sophomore Elise van Heuvelen and senior Anastasia Reimchen defeated freshman Cameron Corse and sophomore Zoe Spence. The Irish came back with junior Rachel Chong and sophomore Bess Waldram’s victory over Iowa’s senior Montana Crawford and junior Adorabol Huckleby, but Iowa’s court-one doubles of senior Zoe Douglas and freshman Yufei Long walked away with a 6-4 win over seniors Brooke Broda and Allison Miller.
On the singles side, Spence defeated Reimchen on court four for Notre Dame’s first point. Iowa’s Douglas defeated Corse 6-2, 6-3, and Huckleby defeated Chong 6-1, 7-5. The Irish had Ally Bojczuk score a 6-2, 7-5 win over Crawford, but Iowa’s Long and van Heuvelen walked away with wins over Broda and Miller.
“We just didn’t have a lot of energy in the match against Iowa,” head coach Jay Louderback said. “We talked about that after … I think they came down with doubles quickly and then we played like we were behind the whole time. We’ve played them a few times in the past, they just came out fast.”
Turning around Saturday’s loss, the Irish left West Lafayette, Indiana with a 6-1 victory over the Boilermakers on Sunday.
“We played the best we have all year against Purdue,” Louderback said. “We’re were all happy with the performance and Purdue just knocked off No. 23, they’re a good team. The energy level was also just a lot better compared to Iowa.”
Notre Dame’s Corse and Spence clinched a doubles point on court two against Purdue sophomore Rafaella Baquerizo and freshman Seira Shimizu, and Chong and Waldram had a 6-3 win over freshman Zala Dovnik and sophomore Alex Sabe.
Starting off singles, Bojczuk continued her strong play on court six, winning 6-4, 6-3. Spence defeated freshman Ena Babic, and Corse beat Sabe 7-6, 6-4 after Shimizu defeated freshman Caroline Dunleavy. Broda sat out and Miller was brought to number one singles with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over junior Silvia Ambrosio. The match concluded with Chong coming back to defeat Baquerizo 5-7, 6-2, 7-6.
“This was our first weekend of back-to-back matches this season,” Louderback said. “I think the times we had doubleheaders helped them this weekend. Everyone played well against Purdue, even with moving around some players.”
The Irish will compete in Fort Myers, Florida on March 13 over spring break against Minnesota and Florida Gulf Coast.
“We’re going to get down there on Friday, and we will have four days to play outdoors before the matches,” Louderback said. “The transition from indoors to outdoors takes a few days, and these matches will help us transition into our early ACC outdoor matches.”
