Notre Dame women’s tennis will move into its second weekend of the spring season with a Saturday doubleheader against Western Michigan and Butler. The Irish marched out to a 3-0 start last weekend, bookending a 4-2 defeat of Illinois with sweeps of Ball State and DePaul.
Opening weekend recap
In the first three consecutive matches on home court, Notre Dame officially began the season with a 4-0 defeat of Ball State on Friday. The Irish lost just one set overall, as Akari Matsuno played to her national ranking of 67th by outscoring her opponent 6-0 and 6-1 in No. 3 singles.
Less than 24 hours later, the Irish returned to take on Big Ten foe Illinois. Though the Fighting Illini easily claimed the doubles point, Notre Dame controlled singles play, winning four of the five completed matches. Bojana Pozder scored a significant victory in No. 1 singles, defeating McKenna Schaefbauer (6-3, 3-6, 6-2), the 109th-ranked player in the nation. Matsuno also took care of business in No. 3 singles against Ariel Madatali (6-0, 6-2), while Nibi Ghosh (6-3, 6-2) and Rylie Hanford (6-1, 6-3) earned comfortable victories of their own.
The weekend finished with leg two of the Saturday twin bill against DePaul. After securing the doubles point, the Irish went to work in singles, as Pozder captured another win (6-0, 6-4) and Hanford (6-3, 6-1) improved to 3-0 by herself on the weekend. Kate Bellia, who did not take part in the Illinois win, did not concede a game to her opponent in No. 6 singles (6-0, 6-0).
Looking ahead
This Saturday, Notre Dame will face Western Michigan at 11 a.m. and Butler at 3 p.m. Neither team has a singles player or doubles pair ranked nationally.
Western Michigan went 3-0 in Kalamazoo last weekend with a 5-2 defeat of Marquette preceding sweeps of Ferris State and Hillsdale. The Broncos’ No. 1 doubles team of Florida Gulf Coast transfer Lola Glantz and Audrey Smitek earned MAC Doubles Team of the Week honors with a 2-0 performance. Last season, the Broncos went 16-8 as Belarusian Polina Khotko captured the MAC Freshman of the Year award and a Second Team All-MAC selection. She’s back this season and a couple of years older than her eligibility would suggest since she started at Broward College, a junior college that shut down all sports in 2022.
Butler had an entirely different weekend, going 0-2 with sweep losses on the road against Northwestern and Purdue. The Bulldogs’ schedule will remain stiff even after Saturday with a Sunday trip to Indiana and a Feb. 1 visit to Cincinnati. With a 12-11 overall record last year, the Bulldogs went 1-5 in Big East play and did not make the NCAA Tournament. Delaney Schurhamer graduated last season as Butler’s only All-Big East player, so the Bulldogs now rely on a three-member senior class to lead the way.
