The Notre Dame women's tennis team split a pair of ACC matches on their Virginia road trip last weekend, gutting out a 4–3 contest with Virginia Tech before falling 4–1 to No. 5 Virginia. The two matches completed the road slate, leaving the Irish with four straight home matches to finish the regular season. They were 5–2 outside of the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Notre Dame now sits at 15–4 overall and 5–3 in conference play and prepares for ACC matchups with No. 35 Clemson on Friday and No. 26 Georgia Tech on Sunday.
Irish top performers
Notre Dame's No. 1 singles junior Akari Matsuno came through with everyone watching against the Hokies, taking down No. 35-ranked Ozlem Uslu in a match-deciding third set to clinch the 4–3 victory. Matsuno now owns a 5–3 record on the top court and a 9–4 record in dual matches overall, the win helping her vault to No. 79 in the national rankings. Notre Dame secured the doubles point in both contests over the weekend thanks to 2-0 weekends from junior Rylie Hanford and senior Nibi Ghosh at No. 2 along with freshman Bianca Molnar and junior Bojana Pozder at No. 3. The Hanford/Ghosh pairing took down the No. 37-ranked Salas/Xu partnership for the Cavaliers in dominating 6–1 fashion. Pozder and Ghosh also got it done on the singles courts against the Hokies, getting wins at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.
Clemson
In his first season at the helm, head coach Boomer Saia led Clemson to a 13–13 record with a 2–10 mark in ACC play. His Tigers fell short in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal to wrap up 2024. Graduate Sophia Hatton is the lone returner from that team, as she will join three transfers and the six freshmen in Saia's inaugural recruiting class, which ranked No. 9 in the nation entering the fall season.
Hatton has a 13–10 record in singles play and an 11–13 mark in doubles, partnering with senior Annabelle Davis to form the most experienced duo on the roster. Their rookie additions have thrived as the top-two pairings, with freshmen Amelie Smejkalova and Gaia Parravicini ranking No. 32 and freshman Candela Yecora joining senior Romana Cisovska to form the No. 47-ranked team. Smejkalova and Parravicini also contribute on the singles courts with another standout first-year in Artemis Aslanisvili, who has recorded an impressive 14-5 mark in 2025.
Sitting at 13–8 overall and 3–6 in ACC matches, the Tigers come off a tough pair of weekend losses against NC State and Wake Forest where they managed only a single point across both contests. Their matchup with the Irish in South Bend comes before they head to Kentucky to face Louisville two days later.
Georgia Tech
Head coach Rodney Harmon enters his 13th season at Georgia Tech, a program he has led to 11-straight NCAA Tournament appearances during his successful tenure. Harmon's squad finished 2024 with a 14–10 overall record before bowing out in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. He returns seven players to the team this year, as well as a pair of newcomers in Olivia Carneiro and Taly Licht.
Scarlett Nicholson and Alejandra Cruz pace the singles lineup on the top two courts for the Yellow Jackets, sharing a team-high 12 wins in dual matches and ranking No. 36 and No. 104 in the nation, respectively. Kate Sharabura and Licht, one of the two rookie additions, come in next on the singles courts, sharing nine wins apiece on the year. Cruz and sophomore Given Roach form the No. 57-ranked doubles pairing and boast a team-high 11 wins with a 6-3 conference mark. Nicholson often features on the top court, posting a 10-7 record between her two partners Sharabura and senior Kylie Bilchev. Licht has also contributed eight wins on the doubles courts, combining with three different partners in the process.
Georgia Tech owns an 11–8 overall record going 5–4 in ACC play. They come off a 1–1 weekend trip to North Carolina, where they swept Wake Forest before losing a heartbreaker against NC State. They will face Louisville in Kentucky before seeing the Irish in South Bend on Sunday.
In the penultimate weekend of the regular season, the Irish will host Clemson on Friday at 4 p.m. and Georgia Tech on Sunday at 11 a.m.
