The Notre Dame women’s tennis team traveled to the Northeast this past weekend, where they notched two 4-3 wins against Boston College and Syracuse on Apr. 1 and 3, respectively.
The Irish opened up their weekend in Chestnut Hill, MA with doubles. Sophomores Julia Andreach and Yashna Yellay finished first with second doubles, beating their opponents 6-3. This was followed by another Notre Dame victory, this time with freshmen Carrie Beckman and Nebedita Ghosh, who also beat their opponent 6-3. First doubles was unfinished.
Singles opened up with an Eagles win against junior Page Freeman (6-3, 6-3). Fourth singles finished next, with another Eagles’ victory against freshman Maria Olivia Castedo (6-2, 6-1). Six singles was the last win for BC (6-3, 6-2) before Notre Dame started notching singles wins. Yellayi defeated her opponent 6-4, 6-4, before Ghosh, who defeated hers 6-3, 6-3. The final singles match of the day that secured the Irish win was by Andreach, who defeated her opponent 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
On Sunday, the Irish started off the day by losing the doubles point, as the teams of Freeman and Castedo and Yellay and Andreach both lost 6-3, 6-4 respectively. However, with singles Castedo and sophomore Meghan Coleman both won by default. In addition, Freeman won the first official match for the Irish (6-2, 6-2). This was followed by a win from Andreach (6-2, 6-2) in second singles and then a loss by Yellayi (5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)) in third singles. Finally, Ghosh lost 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 )10-5) to her opponent, but at that point, the Irish had already secured the victory 4-3.
These two matches gave the Irish an 11-8 record on the season and 4-5 in the ACC. The Irish are ranked No. 49 and hope to increase their standing as they head into the latter portion of their season. With only five regular games before the ACC tournament, the Irish schedule does not appear to be any easier with four out of five ranked higher than Notre Dame. They start off their tough schedule on Apr. 8 at home against No. 6 Miami, followed by No. 40 Florida State, unranked Oakland, No. 26 Wake Forest and finish with No. 2 NC State away on Apr. 16. The Irish roster is not weak, and with No. 90 singles player Freeman and No. 31 doubles team Freeman and Castedo, the Irish are confident in their ability to pull through the rest of the season strong.
Notre Dame returns home to host No. 6 Miami on Apr. 8 at Eck Tennis Pavilion starting at 3:30 p.m.
