The No. 24-ranked Notre Dame women's tennis split over the weekend at the Eck Tennis Pavilion, mounting an epic comeback to defeat No. 29 Wake Forest 4-3 on Friday before dropping a hard-fought 4-2 battle with No. 15 NC State two days later. The loss marked Notre Dame's second of the season and first in nearly a month.
Wake Forest
In their second ACC contest of the season, the Irish overcame the Demon Deacons after surrendering a 3-0 lead early. Wake Forest earned the doubles point after taking two 6-3 wins on courts two and three. The senior pairing of Carrie Beckman and Olivia Castedo did secure a ranked win on the first court, taking down No. 75-ranked Makayla Mills and Krystal Blanch for some consolation.
Straight set wins at No. 6 and No. 3 singles would give the Demon Deacons a commanding 3-0 lead, but the Irish responded immediately. Freshman Bianca Molnar handled Whitney Pate in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, to get the Irish on the board. On court two, junior Bojana Pozder’s win over the No. 95-ranked Blanch brought Notre Dame within one with two matches yet to finish. Senior Nibi Ghosh continued the momentum, tying the match at 3-3 with her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Kady Tannebaum. That left the match in No. 109 Akari Matsuno’s hands on court one. The junior’s seventh singles win of the spring came at a critical time. She ground out a 7-5 win in the first set before cruising to a 6-2 second and completing the comeback for the Irish. The win improved Notre Dame’s conference record to 2-0 ahead of its next conference matchup with NC State two days later.
NC State
Sunday’s contest was hotly contested, with Notre Dame ultimately falling short and suffering its first conference loss of the season against a formidable NC State squad. Matsuno continued her great form with a statement 6-1, 6-0 victory over No. 30 Michaela Laki at No. 1 singles. Anna Zyryanova and No. 73-ranked Gabia Paskauskas would respond with their own straight set victories on courts two and six respectively. Ghosh’s 7-6, 6-4 victory at No. 5 singles kept it close, but between its hard-fought doubles point and three-set victory at No. 4 singles, NC State took the match. Points were traded on doubles courts two and three with junior Rylie Hanford and Matsuno avenging Pozder and Molnar’s 6-3 loss. On court one, Beckman and Castedo pushed the No. 2-ranked Gabriella Broadfoot and Maddy Zampardo pairing hard, but fell just short to lose out on the doubles point. Beckman’s three-set defeat to Broadfoot ended the match, leaving the three-set thriller between Molnar and No. 100-ranked Zampardo unfinished.
The Irish take the upcoming weekend off before a weekend trip to Florida where they will face Miami on March 14 at 1 p.m. and Florida State on March 16 at noon.
