ND Women’s Tennis
Irish set to host Florida State, Miami (FL) after sweeping IUPUI
Charlie Ortega Guifarro | Thursday, April 19, 2018
Notre Dame defeated Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis on the road Wednesday afternoon. The Irish won all six singles matches and swept their doubles matches to claim a 7-0 victory. Senior Allison Miller and sophomore Bess Waldram were victorious in the first doubles match, meanwhile, their teammates, freshman Caroline Dunleavy and sophomore Zoe Spence claimed the No. 2 doubles victory. Ultimately, the clinching point was won by freshman Ally Bojczuk and junior Rachel Chong.
Notre Dame (11-12, 2-10 ACC) is set to host Florida State and Miami (FL) this weekend in the last weekend of regular-season action. The Seminoles (16-7, 7-5 ACC) are coming in ranked No. 18 in the country, while the Hurricanes (13-6, 9-3 ACC) are a tick above Florida State, ranked No. 17 in the nation and fourth in the conference. The Hurricanes and the Seminoles have won their last four and five macthes, respectively. Irish head coach Jay Louderback said that both teams have played at an elite level all year, but the Irish are not afraid to put up a fight.
“[Florida State and Miami are] both good. Everybody in the ACC is good. The thing that’s also important is that they’re all beatable,” Louderback said. “We were in a tight match with Georgia Tech, who’s [top-rated]. We had match points to beat North Carolina State and they just beat Wake Forest, who’s [high in the rankings]. The thing that you run into too in the ACC is that if you get into a match where someone is out — like we played without some players — it makes a difference.
“You don’t know with [the ACC] teams, they’re teams we’ll be right in there with, our [players] know it. [Florida State and Miami] are ranked high — top 25 — but, we still feel like we’re right in there with them. It’s not like we’re afraid to play them.”
With the team still unsure about the availability of injured freshman Cameron Corse for this weekend, Louderback said that there might be some adjustments to the singles lineup. The veteran coach, however, is content with the doubles arrangements from last weekend’s play at Syracuse and Boston College and does not plan to make any changes.
“We might adjust a little bit with singles, I’m not sure yet,” he said. “I really felt good with the doubles we had, we had to scramble a little and switch our teams around, but that’s something I felt good about last weekend. We definitely had chances to beat BC in the doubles and then our number one doubles lost a close 6-4 against Syracuse and did a good job. I felt good about our doubles with [Corse] out.”
April is not the same in northern Indiana as it is in Florida, and Louderback said that playing Floridian teams on a sunny 50-degree weather day would be an advantage for the Irish.
“I think [Florida State and Miami] are not used to [50-degree weather], they’re probably playing in 75, 80-degree weather. We’ll either play them indoors — and if we do play them [outside] it’s going to be 55, which for us feels like a heat wave,” Louderback said. “Either way, it’s going to be good playing outdoors and not in hot weather, which they’re used to.”
The Irish will start off their final regular season weekend on Friday at 4 p.m. against the Seminoles and Senior Day will be Sunday at noon against the Hurricanes at Courtney Tennis Complex.
