The Notre Dame women’s tennis team (9-8, 3-6 ACC) failed to register a single point in two road matchups in the state of Florida this weekend. In the first matchup, the Irish fell 7-0 to 35th-ranked Miami (7-5, 4-3 ACC) on Friday afternoon. After a two-hour weather delay, the Hurricanes took the first doubles match, courtesy of a 7-5 victory by Estella Perez-Somarriba and Isabella Pfennig over the 19th-ranked Irish pair of senior Cameron Corse and sophomore Page Freeman. Notre Dame battled back to take the second match with a 6-2 victory by Senior Ally Bojczuk and junior Julia Lilien over Diana Khodan and Maya Tahan of the Hurricanes, but the Hurricanes earned the doubles point with the victory in the deciding match; Daevenia Achong and Florencia Urrutia defeated the Irish freshmen Julia Andreach and Yashna Yellayi 6-4.
The Hurricanes went on to take all six singles points. In the first match, Perez-Somarriba defeated Corse in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. In the second, Pfennig bested Freeman, 6-1, 6-2. In the third singles match, Achong quickly dispatched Bojczuk 6-0, 6-1. In the fourth, Lillien took an early lead but ended up dropping the match in a tiebreaker to Urrutia 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7). In match No. 5, Tahen handled Andreach, 6-3, 6-2, and in the final match, Khodan defeated Yellayi, 6-1, 6-2.
The Irish then traveled north to Tallahassee for an even tougher test against No. 6 Florida State (13-3, 8-2 ACC). In the first doubles match on Sunday afternoon, Corse and Freeman were bested by the Florida State pair of Victoria Allen and Emmanuelle Salas 6-4. In match No. 2, Bojczuk and Lillian were defeated by Nandini Das and Andrea Garcia of the Seminoles 6-4. In the final doubles match, Giulia Pairone and Petra Hule defeated Andreach and Yellayi 6-3. The Seminoles went on to sweep the singles matches as well. In match No.1, Corse gave Pairon — the 27th ranked singles player in the nation — a fight, but fell 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) in a tiebreaker. Freeman battled as well in the second match but fell to Salas 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-4). Das dispatched Lillien in straight sets in the third match, 6-2, 6-1, and in the fourth, Hule defeated Bojczuk 7-6 (7-1), 6-3. In match No. 5, Allen defeated Andreach 6-2, 6-4. Florida State finished off the shutout with Garcia’s 6-3, 6-3 victory over junior Maeve Koscielski.
The Irish will look to turn things around when they head home for a three-game homestand to close the regular season. They take on Louisville at 1:00 on Saturday, April 3rd. Notre Dame students will be permitted to attend the game at Eck Tennis Pavilion, and all other fans can watch live online via UND.com/tennisstream.
