Though seniors Kristy Frilling and Shannon Mathews suffered their first singles losses in three weeks, the Irish swept their games this weekend over ranked opponents Indiana and Georgia Tech.
Frilling and Mathews both dropped their singles matches when No. 23 Notre Dame took on No. 16 Georgia Tech on Sunday.
Frilling's four-game winning streak came to an end when she fell to Elizabeth Kilborn in three sets (2-6, 7-5, 6-4). Frilling now has a singles record of 7-4.
Mathews fell to Jillian O'Neill 2-6, 6-0, 6-3. Despite the two losses, the Irish still claimed the victory 4-3.
"I think we both had tough matches and it's too bad we couldn't capitalize on our leads," Frilling said. "But I'm really proud of the rest of our team for stepping up and getting the win for us today."
Frilling said that clenching the doubles point against Georgia Tech was key in the Irish victory.
"Winning the doubles point has been really helpful as it gives us a confidence boost heading into singles," Frilling said.
All three Irish doubles pairs won their matches against Georgia Tech, the duo of sophomores Britney Sanders and Julie Sabacinski defeating Kilborn and Lynn Blau.
The Irish were almost undefeated against No. 74 Indiana, grabbing a 6-1 victory. The only loss of the day fell to freshman Katherine White. She brought her match to three sets but in the end fell to Kayla Fujimoto. For the rest of the day, both singles and doubles managed to clench their matches in two sets.
Frilling said that sophomore Chrissie McGaffigan was one of the standouts on the weekend.
"I didn't get to see her play today, but Chrissie McGaffigan stepped up this weekend," Frilling said. "She's been nursing some injuries and she even twisted her ankle during her match today, but she still came out with the win."
Frilling said that to keep focus from match to match, the team has to devote themselves entirely every time they hit the court.
"I think we just try to put everything into every match we play and leave everything out on the court," Frilling said. "A lot of it comes from practicing hard and keeping ourselves motivated."
The Irish are back in action at home against Iowa at 3:30 on Friday.
Contact Katie Heit at
kheit@nd.edu
