This weekend, the Notre Dame women’s tennis team is gearing up for a split weekend against Bowling Green and Marquette. After facing the Falcons (0-0, 0-0 MAC) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Friday, the Irish (5-3, 2-1 ACC) will return to their home court to face the Golden Eagles (2-1, 0-0 Big East) Saturday to round their off weekend.
Following a road loss to Kentucky last Saturday and focusing on improving their play style, head coach Alison Silverio has the team working on honing an aggressive strategy and their performance during pressure moments.
“We certainly wanted to take the lessons learned from our previous match and implement those into practice and put our team in different situations,” Silverio said. “We have focused on doubles and the aggressive, or strike, tennis that we want to play.”
In addition to discussing preparation for the upcoming weekend, Silverio also noted how her players, in both doubles and singles, have seen a lot of improvements so far this season. She also mentioned two players who have helped lead the team through the season: senior captain Cameron Corse, playing the No. 1 seed, and fellow senior captain Ally Bojczuk. Bojczuk was notably the only team member to have a victory against Kentucky last weekend.
“Those two have done an incredible job leading through the adversity that COVID has brought on for all of us,” Silverio said of Corse and Bojczuk.
Additionally, Silverio expressed that she has confidence up and down the Irish lineup. Sophomore Page Freeman, who has been playing at the No. 2 seed, has had good results throughout the season. She went 6-4, 6-2 in her singles match Feb. 4 against DePaul and went 6-3, 6-1 in her singles match Jan. 30 against Toledo. Additionally, freshman Julia Andreach stood out with a fourth-seed win 6-2, 6-2 in her singles match against DePaul. This followed Andreach’s victories against players from Ball State and Toledo on the weekend of Jan. 29-30.
With the Irish currently 5-3 overall this season, the team is looking to continue their momentum as they look to further challenge themselves. Through matches and practices, the team is working hard to prepare for the rest of the season.
“We want to continue to push our momentum forward,” Silverio said. “We want to challenge ourselves everyday, not just in the matches, but certainly in practice. Persistence has been a focus for us this week, and just getting a little bit better each day in practice.”
The last time Notre Dame faced Bowling Green on the court was Jan. 19, 2020, at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish went 6-1, coming out victorious over the Falcons. In that match, Corse, Bojczuk and Freeman all had big wins in their single matches.
After a shutout by the Irish in 2015, Marquette is returning to the Eck Tennis Pavilion this weekend for another faceoff. Currently, the Golden Eagles are streaking after winning their last two matches against Milwaukee and University of Illinois at Chicago.
Notre Dame will host Bowling Green on Friday at 3 p.m and Marquette on Saturday at 11 a.m. The matches can be streamed live on und.com.
