DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 55 Notre Dame women’s tennis team suffered back-to-back sweeps against top ACC competition on the road this weekend; first, suffering a 4-0 loss at No. 4 North Carolina on Friday, then a 4-0 defeat at the hands of No. 24 Duke on Sunday. The Fighting Irish drop to 2-5 in league play and 12-6 overall on the season.
The bright spot of the weekend belonged to the doubles tandem of Bojana Pozder & Mari-Louise Van Zyl, who defeated the Duke pairing of Irina Balus & Eleana Yu, 6-3, on court three.
No. 75 Bianca Molnar was battle tested on Friday when she faced the No. 2-ranked singles player in the country, North Carolina’s Reese Brantmeier. Molnar lost the first set 6-3, but was up 3-0 in the second set when the match ended unfinished.
Up next, the Irish look to bounce back with a ranked win over No. 32 SMU at home on March 22, at 1:30 p.m. ET.
#55 Notre Dame (12-6, 2-5) – 0
#24 Duke (11-3, 5-0) – 4
DOUBLES – 1, 3, 2
1. #13 Shavit Kimchi/Liv Hovde (DUKE) def. Akari Matsuno/Bianca Molnar (ND) 6-2
2. Aspen Schuman/Claire An (DUKE) def. Gabriella Rawles/Rylie Hanford (ND) 6-3
3. Bojana Pozder/Mari-Louise Van Zyl (ND) def. Irina Balus/Eleana Yu (DUKE) 6-3
SINGLES – 3, 1, 2
1. #13 Irina Balus (DUKE) def. #75 Bianca Molnar (ND) 6-2, 6-3
2. #114 Liv Hovde (DUKE) def. Akari Matsuno (ND) 7-5, 6-4
3. #107 Aspen Schuman (DUKE) def. Rylie Hanford (ND) 6-3, 6-1
4. #101 Eleana Yu (DUKE) vs. Bojana Pozder (ND) 6-3, 2-3, unfinished
5. Shavit Kimchi (DUKE) vs. Sophia Holod (ND) 4-6, 6-3, unfinished
6. Claire An (DUKE) vs. Gabriella Rawles (ND) 6-3, 5-4, unfinished
#55 Notre Dame (12-5, 2-4) – 0
#4 North Carolina (16-1, 4-0) – 4
DOUBLES –
1. Zampardo/Maltby (UNC) def. Molnar/Matsuno (ND), 6-2
2. Evans/Hamilton (UNC) def. Hanford/Rawles (ND), 6-3
3. Brantmeirer/Frey (UNC) def. Van Zyl/Pozder (ND), 6-4
SINGLES –
1. #2 Reese Brantmeier (UNC) vs. #75 Bianca Molnar (ND), 6-4, 0-3, unfinished
2. #18 Tatum Evans (UNC) vs. Akari Matsuno (ND), 6-3 1-2, unfinished
3. #7 Oby Kajuru (UNC) vs. Rylie Hanford (ND), 6-2, 5-3, unfinished
4. #93 Anna Frey (UNC) def. Bojana Pozder (ND), 6-1, 6-3
5. Maddy Zampardo (UNC) def. Sophia Holod (ND), 6-1, 6-2
6. #111 Thea Rabman (UNC) def. Jessica Kovalcik (ND), 6-1, 6-1
– ND –