The Notre Dame tennis teams will continue their non-conference slates with one game apiece this weekend. At 8-1 on the spring, the Irish men’s team will travel to Illinois for a 6 p.m. game on Saturday, while the 9-1 women’s squad will host Xavier at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Men’s tennis
Since taking a home loss against Princeton on Jan. 17, the Irish have rattled off six consecutive victories, most recently sweeping William & Mary and Northern Illinois in South Bend this weekend. However, they haven’t yet played on the road in 2025 and will do so for the first time on Saturday. Their upcoming opponent, Illinois, checks in at 2-2 in the spring season.
Three different Fighting Illini singles players rank inside the national top 80. At No. 13, there’s Japanese junior Kenta Miyoshi, a Second Team All-Big Ten selection last spring and an ITA Singles All-American in the fall. Including the fall, he’s 15-7 in the 2024-25 season, featuring as the team’s No. 1 singles player.
Redshirt junior William Mroz entered the rankings with an excellent fall and currently sits at No. 42. He’s 13-5 overall and 2-2 in spring singles as the Fighting Illini’s usual No. 2 player. Redshirt sophomore Tyler Bowers, a former five-star recruit from the state of Illinois, ranks 79th. He joined the rankings just last week and is off to a 3-0 start in No. 4 singles this spring.
Illinois has played a loaded non-conference slate so far, losing to No. 14 Tennessee and No. 7 Duke on the road. The Fighting Illini also defeated Auburn and North Carolina, taking last weekend off. They’ll host another ACC program, Clemson, on Saturday morning before squaring off with the Irish.
The matchup between Miyoshia and 33rd-ranked Notre Dame junior Sebastian Dominko should be a fantastic one. Dominko leads the Irish with a 7-1 record as their No. 1 singles player and also shares a 4-1 record with freshman Peter Nad in No. 1 doubles. Senior Yu Zhang, who is 6-2 on the No. 2 singles court, figures to draw Mroz.
Women’s tennis
Notre Dame entered the loss column for the first time last weekend against Ohio State but bounced back to sweep a Sunday doubleheader against Bellarmine. The Irish will face another program from the Buckeye State, Xavier, this weekend.
Coming out of the Big East, the Musketeers are 3-3 on the year after beating Indiana on the road this past Sunday. Xavier also owns victories against West Virginia and Memphis with losses to Texas Tech, Michigan State and Purdue.
They’ll be seeking revenge in their matchup against the Irish this weekend. Last year, Notre Dame eliminated Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Ann Arbor, advancing with a 4-3 win. The Irish bounced back from missing out on the doubles point by claiming four of the six singles matches to prevail.
Transitioning to this season, the Musketeers have lost two key pieces from last year’s team, two-time Big East Player of the Year Imani Graham and unanimous All-Big East First Team selection Anna Roggenburk. Elizabeth Pendergast, a senior and Cincinnati native, has gone 2-4 as Xavier’s No. 1 singles player this spring. The Musketeers’ No. 1 doubles team, consisting of junior Abby Nugent and freshman Clara Owen, ranks 22nd in the country.
That highly-touted Xavier doubles pairing will most likely face Notre Dame’s duo of senior Carrie Beckman and junior Akari Matsuno. The two have gone 3-1 in No. 1 doubles this spring season, with Matsuno slotting in at No. 71 in the national singles rankings.
