CARY, N.C. – Don’t count these Fighting Irish out. The 10th-seeded Notre Dame women’s tennis squad had its back against the wall against 7th-seeded Clemson, down 1-3. Yet, the Blue & Gold fought all the way back to win 4-3 to advance to the Quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. Sophomore Bianca Molnar was the star of the night, clinching the victory on court one in three sets.
The Fighting Irish claimed the important doubles point to get off to a 1-0 lead over Clemson. In fact, all three Irish pairs won their doubles match.
These two teams met earlier in the season in South Carolina, with ND winning the doubles point but ultimately falling 1-4 in the match. Yet, this time, Notre Dame wouldn’t let history repeat itself.
Despite the early advantage, the Irish soon had their back against the wall. The Tigers won courts four, five and three (in that order) in straight sets to be one point away from victory.
However, Bianca Molnar won the first set on court one (6-1), Akari Matsuno won the first set on court two (7-5) and Jessica Kovalcik won the first set on court six (6-2).
Kovalcik then began the momentum swing by making the first singles punch by knocking off Ria Bhakta, 6-2, 6-2. Matsuno followed soon after by recording a ranked win over No. 69 Rinon Okuwaki, 7-5, 6-4.
Yet, right when Matsuno tied the match at 3-3, court one was heading to a decisive third set.
Molnar then delivered right away by earning a break to go up 1-0, then held serve for the 2-0 advantage. When Molnar was on serve again, up 2-1 at 40-40, she scored the crucial point to go up 3-1. From there, Molnar was absolutely dialed in and closed it out 6-1 in the third set.
This marks the third time the Irish have reached the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament. They’ll look to ride their wave of momentum on Friday when they take on two-seed North Carolina at 6 p.m. ET.
#10 seed Notre Dame (18-8) – 4 | #7 seed Clemson (17-8) – 3
National Rankings: #44 Irish vs. #24 Tigers
DOUBLES – 2, 3, 1
1. #41 Molnar/Pozder (ND) vs. #43 Groen/Okuwaki (CLEM), 6-4
2. Rawles/Hanford (ND) def. Neilson-Gatenby/Cisovska (CLEM), 6-4
3. Matsuno/Van Zyl (ND) def. Aslanisvili/Clayton (CLEM), 6-3
SINGLES – 4, 5, 3, 6, 2, 1
1. #71 Bianca Molnar (ND) vs. Jade Groen (CLEM), 6-1, 5-7, 6-1
2. Akari Matsuno (ND) vs. #69 Rinon Okuwaki (CLEM), 7-5, 6-4
3. Romana Cisovska (CLEM) def. Bojana Pozder (ND), 6-2, 6-1
4. Talia Neilson-Gatenby (CLEM) def. Sophia Holod (ND), 6-3, 6-0
5. Artemis Aslanisvili (CLEM) def. Rylie Hanford (ND), 6-4, 6-1
6. Jessica Kovalcik (ND) def. Ria Bhakta (CLEM), 6-2, 6-2
– ND –