Despite a Thursday 7-0 win against DePaul to start the weekend off at the Eck Tennis Pavilion, the Notre Dame women’s tennis team fell 6-1 to the University of Kentucky in an away game. As a result, the Irish are now 5-3 overall in their current season.
On Thursday, the Irish had a strong showing with decisive victories across the board in doubles and singles. The Irish won the doubles point to put themselves in a 1-0 lead with the wins of sophomore Page Freeman and senior Cameron Corse (6-4) and of first-years Yashna Yellayi and Meghan Coleman (6-4). Moreover, the Irish also won on all single courts, including victories from Corse (6-3, 6-0), Freeman (6-4, 6-2) and senior captain Ally Bojczuk (6-4, 6-4). These matches led to DePaul falling against the Notre Dame women.
The momentum from the win over DePaul flooded the match against the Wildcats, as the Irish played aggressively; however, this playstyle was not enough to push Notre Dame over the edge. In fact, Bojczuk was the lone winner of the match going 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in her singles match as the Irish failed to scoop up any points in the doubles division.
Two other hard-fought matches by Corse (3-6, 6-1, 7-5) and first-year Julia Andreach [7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-2] also came down to tie-breaking sets; however, the Wildcats prevailed over the Irish. Head coach Alison Silverio chalked the loss up to a failure to remain consistent on pressure points and conversions at deuce. Moreover, Silverio expressed confidence in her squad and looks to use this latest matchup as a lesson as they prepare for their match of the season.
“Last weekend, we got to compete against a great team in Lexington, against Kentucky,” Silverio said. “We were right in there in every single match and just weren’t quite able to convert consistently on the pressure points, on the deuce points, and that was ultimately what made the difference in the match.”
Silvero also mentioned how grateful the team is to be back out and competing. After COVID-19 swept the nation last spring, the Irish played their last match of 2020 back in March and have thus made an eager return to the courts.
“It was a great learning experience for us to be back out on the court competing,” Silvero said. “We’re so grateful just to have these opportunities to be out there doing what we love — competing for Notre Dame.”
The Irish are set to host Bowling Green in another split weekend at home on Friday at 3 p.m. Following their match against the Falcons, the Irish will then face off against the Marquette Golden Eagles on Saturday at 11 a.m. Both matches will take place at home at the Eck Tennis Pavilion and can be streamed live on und.com.
