#24 Irish Shut Out Syracuse on Senior Day, Secure 6th Seed in ACC Championship

ACC Women’s Tennis Championship Bracket

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After honoring Carrie Beckman, Kate Bellia, Nibi Ghosh and Maria Olivia Castedo for senior day, the 24th-ranked Notre Dame women’s tennis team finished the regular season with a 4-0 shutout win over Syracuse Sunday inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish improve to 19-4 on the season, 9-3 in ACC play and 14-2 on the home courts.

The 19 wins this season are the most under head coach Alison Silverio and the most since the 2011-12 season (21 wins). With the 9-3 ACC record, Notre Dame gets the sixth seed in next week’s ACC Women’s Tennis Championship in Cary, North Carolina. The nine wins in the ACC are the most by the Irish since joining the conference in 2013.

The Irish will play on Thursday, April 17th at 12:30 p.m. at the Cary Tennis Park against the winner of 11-seeded SMU and 14-seeded Wake Forest.

In today’s match, Notre Dame claimed the doubles point early after Bianca Molnar/Bojana Pozder won 6-2 at No. 3 doubles and Carrie Beckman/Akari Matsuno won 6-3 at No. 1 doubles to send the Irish into singles play with an early advantage. 

Molnar wasted no time in singles. She coasted to a 6-1, 6-2 ranked win over No. 101 Serafima Shastova for the second Notre Dame point. Matsuno followed with a ranked win herself, a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 108 Miyuka Kimoto to put the Irish one point away from their 14th home win.

Rylie Hanford clinched the win for Notre Dame. After persisting past a 7-6 (x) tiebreaker win in the first set, the junior took the second set 6-3 to wrap up the regular season for the Irish with a shutout victory.

#24 Notre Dame 4, Syracuse 0

Singles:

1. #64 Akari Matsuno (ND) def. #108 Miyuka Kimoto (SU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Nibi Ghosh (ND) vs. Nelly Knezkova (SU) 7-6 (8-6), 1-1, unfinished
3. Bianca Molnar (ND) def. #101 Serafima Shastova (SU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Bojana Pozder (ND) vs. Anastasia Sysoeva (SU) 4-6, 5-3, unfinished
5. Rylie Hanford (ND) def. Shiori Ito (SU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
6. Maria Olivia Castedo (ND) vs. Monika Wojcik (SU) 4-6, 3-2, unfinished

Doubles:

1. Carrie Beckman/Akari Matsuno (ND) def. Shiori Ito/Nelly Knezkova (SU) 6-3
2. #60 Rylie Hanford/Nibi Ghosh (ND) vs. Miyuka Kimoto/Anastasia Sysoeva (SU) 3-5, unfinished
3. Bianca Molnar/Bojana Pozder (ND) def. Monika Wojcik/Serafima Shastova (SU) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (3,1,5)