After a tough ACC stretch in recent weeks, Notre Dame women’s tennis picked up two huge home wins against No. 19 Cal and No. 40 Stanford to put the season back on the right track. Sitting at No. 42 in the nation, the Irish spent Easter weekend in North Carolina, with two key matchups against No. 68 Wake Forest and No. 10 NC State to draw a close to the ACC campaign.
First up was a visit to Winston-Salem, with the Irish in good form, brimming with confidence. Despite a surprising loss 6-4 for the Irish pair of sophomore Bianca Molnar and senior Bojana Pozder to Nevena Carton and Kady Tannenbaum, the Irish were still able to pick up the crucial doubles point. Senior and freshman pair Rylie Hanford and Gabriella Rawles brought their record to 12-5 on the season, fighting to a 6-4 win against a strong Wake Forest pairing of Sankavi Gownder and Evie Oxford. The third Notre Dame pair the sealed point with a 6-3 victory, as another senior and freshman pairing of Akari Matsuno and Mari-Louise Van Zyl picked up their sixth win of the year.
With the doubles point secured, all eyes turned to the singles. The Irish got off to a flying start as Matsuno breezed past Blanch 6-1, 6-0 to give the Irish a 2-0 lead with her 15th win of the season. Oxford gave Wake Forest hope as she picked up a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Pozder, and Gownder tied it up, defeating Hanford 7-5, 6-1. With the match hanging in the balance, it was Irish star Molnar and freshman sensation Holod who produced when it mattered most. Molnar picked up a gritty 7-5, 6-2 win over Carton before Holod overcame a fantastic effort from sophomore Heidi Bulger to seal the Irish victory with a 7-6(4), 6-4 win, her team-leading 13th dual singles win on the season. The victory made it three in a row for the Irish as they turned toward much tougher opposition to end the North Carolina double header.
An Easter Sunday trip to Raleigh for NC State's senior day was always going to be a tough visit, with the Wolfpack ranked No. 10. Led by four ranked singles players and the No. 2 ranked doubles pairing in the nation, NC State boasted stars everywhere. The Irish fell short in the doubles but put in spirited performances, with Molnar and Pozder losing 6-2 to the No. 2 pair in the nation of Gabriella Broadfoot and Victoria Osuigwe. Matsuno and Van Zyl fell just short losing 6-4 to sophomore Mia Slama and freshman Lavinia Tanasie as NC State took a 1-0 lead.
Moving on to singles, it was disappointment for the Irish as Matsuno, Holod and Pozder lost in straight sets to Broadfoot, Tanasie and Anna Zyrynova respectively as the Wolfpack took home a 4-0 victory. One of the unfinished games saw a spirited comeback from Molnar, who fought back after losing the first set 6-0 to Slama to take the second set 6-3 before the game was stopped.
After a split weekend on the East Coast, Notre Dame heads into the final regular season matchup against DePaul Sunday with a 15-8 record before returning to North Carolina for the ACC tournament starting April 14.
