After a strong showing in a 5-2 defeat of Virginia Tech on Friday, March 25th, the Notre Dame Women’s Tennis team looked to stay lucky at home this Sunday against UVA. Back when the Irish faced Virginia Tech, junior Page Freeman, sophomore Julia Andreach, freshman Nibedita Ghosh, and freshman Maria Olivia Castedo picked up singles wins. The duo of Castedo and Freeman won in the doubles matches, as well as the duo of Andreach and sophomore Meghan Coleman. In a conference as densely packed with strong women's tennis teams as the ACC, racking up wins like this against Virginia Tech can make a huge difference later in the season.
The Irish shined outdoors in the irregular Northern Indiana sunshine on Friday, but on Sunday against Virginia there were below freezing temperatures at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The action began Sunday with the doubles matches in what Head Women’s Tennis Coach Alison Silverio called “a very hard fought battle.”
She gave a special shout out to the freshman duo of Carrie Beckman and Ghosh for “fighting and digging in” in order to give their teammates a chance to put score the doubles point. While the Irish were not able to capitalize on this opportunity, Coach Silverio stressed the significance of the growth in this young core of players on a squad with only one senior and one junior on the roster.
After the doubles matches rounded up, the singles matches began on all six of the courts in Eck Pavilion. In the results of the individual matches, the Irish gave a strong effort across the board, but only one of the six matches was pushed past two sets. That exception was the only victory granted and subsequent point scored for Notre Dame on Sunday.
This winning match came from the racquet of Coleman as she defeated Sara Ziodato of Virginia in the third set after suffering a shutout in the first set. After the rut of a scoreless first set, Coleman was able to find her way out through a talk with Coach Silverio. Additionally, the energy from “screaming after every single point” motivated her and her teammates. Coleman said that in maintaining this high energy, the team, “ tr[ies] to make it as fun as possible."
In talking with Coleman and Coach Silverio, when asked to define the team, the word off of both of their lips was a single five letter word: “fight”. If nothing else, in their match this Sunday against Virginia, the Notre Dame Women’s Tennis Team’s commitment to their single word mantra was highlighted in their efforts on the courts. As they try to bounce back into ACC play, this team will need to truly draw on their ability to “fight.” The Irish pick up in only a few days on Wednesday and travel to Boston to take on Boston College.
