In their first home matchup of the season, the Notre Dame women’s tennis team swept the Bowling Green Falcons at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Sunday. In the first matchup, the Irish dominated Bowling Green 6-1, and in the afternoon play, swept the Falcons 4-0.
The Irish opened the morning games by dominating the Falcons in doubles play. The pairings of junior Ally Bojczuk and freshman Page Freeman, senior Bess Waldram and junior Julia Lilien, and sophomores Maeve Koscielski and Zoe Taylor all handily defeated their Bowling Green counterparts.
Bojczuk started the Irish off strong in singles play, winning her match 6-1, 6-1, which was followed by victories from Freeman (6-1, 6-1), Lilien (6-1, 6-1) and junior Cameron Corse rounded out the morning matches with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph.
After a break, the two teams returned for the afternoon matches, where Notre Dame fared equally well. The Irish again swept the doubles matches. The pairing of Freeman and Taylor prevailed 6-1, Bojczuk and Waldrum won 6-1, and junior Corse and Zoe Spence were victorious with the same score.
In the afternoon singles, Koscielski won the first match, 6-1, 6-0, followed by victories from Bojczuk (6-2, 6-1), and a match-clinching victory from Freeman (7-5, 6-2).
It was as good a start to the season as the Irish could have hoped for, as they enter head coach Allison Silverio’s second season. Silverio, who was a national champion in her playing days at the University of Oregon, hopes to turn Notre Dame’s program around as they seek their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2016-2017.
The Irish continue their season when they travel to Athens, Georgia next weekend. They will take on Furman University on Saturday, and then host the University of Georgia, ranked second in the nation, and Michigan State on Sunday. After they return home, they will have a four-match homestand where they face Akron, Kentucky, Butler and Northwestern which will carry them into early February before they head on the road again.
