ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Notre Dame women’s tennis team travelled to the University of Michigan this past weekend, where they competed in the 2026 ITA Kickoff Weekend event. On Saturday, the Fighting Irish fell 4-0 to No. 19 Vanderbilt, who eventually went on to book their ticket to ITA National Indoors after also besting No. 7 Michigan. However, Notre Dame did bounce back on Sunday with a 4-0 sweep over Penn. As a result, ND is now 3-1 on the young season.
Against Penn, the Blue & Gold started by claiming the doubles point with victories on courts one and two. First, Bianca Molnar teamed with Sophia Holod for the first time this year and bested Velaga/Saw, 6-4. Then the tandem of Akari Matsuno and Jessica Kovalcik delivered a 6-4 win over Stojanovski/Morlagh, improving to 6-1 on the year together.
In singles, the Irish picked up wins on courts 4, 5, and 3, in that order, to record the shutout. All three were decided in straight sets.
First, Rylie Hanford earned her first dual win this spring with a 6-0, 6-3 decision over Liza Tkachenko. The newest Irish addition, freshman Gabriella Rawles, followed suit with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Joleen Saw. Next, Sophia Holod downed Lara Stojanovski, 6-2, 6-3.
Now, Notre Dame did suffer a 4-0 defeat at the hands of red-hot No. 19 Vanderbilt, but the Irish were in deadlocked battles on the three unfinished singles courts. On court one, No. 58 Bianca Molnar won the first set 6-2 and was trailing just 4-5 in the second to Celia Belle Mohr.
Akari Matsuno was vying for an upset on court two. She bounced back after a 4-6 set one loss and was up 6-4 in the second set to No. 17 Valeria Ray. Lastly, Rylie Hanford had battled into a third set against Trinetra Vijayakumar, where she was up 6-2, 2-6, 2-0.
The full Notre Dame results can be found below:
Notre Dame 4 – Penn 0
DOUBLES – 1, 2
No. 1 — Bianca Molnar/Sophia Holod(Notre Dame) d. Esha Velaga/Joleen Saw (Penn), 6-4
No. 2 — Akari Matsuno/Jessica Kovalcik (Notre Dame) d. Lara Stojanovski/Sasha Morlagh (Penn), 6-4
No. 3 — Rylie Hanford/Gabriella Rawles (Notre Dame) vs. Varsha Vedula/Maya Urata (Penn), 5-4, unfinished
SINGLES – 4, 5, 3
No. 1 — No. 89 Esha Velaga (Penn) vs. No. 58 Bianca Molnar (Notre Dame), 6-2, 4-4, unfinished
No. 2 — Maya Urata (Penn) vs. Akari Matsuno (Notre Dame), 6-4, 0-3, unfinished
No. 3 – Sophia Holod (Notre Dame) d. Lara Stojanovski (Penn), 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 – Rylie Hanford (Notre Dame) d. Liza Tkachenko (Penn), 6-0, 6-3
No. 5 — Gabriella Rawles (Notre Dame) d. Joleen Saw (Penn), 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 — Jessica Kovalcik (Notre Dame) vs. Varsha Vedula (Penn), 6-2, 1-3, unfinished
#19 Vanderbilt 4 – Notre Dame 0
Doubles – 1, 2
No. 1 — No. 2 Celia Belle Mohr/Sophia Webster (Vanderbilt) d. No. 21 Bianca Molnar/Bojana Pozder (Notre Dame), 6-1
No. 2 — No. 13 Valeria Ray/Bridget Stammel (Vanderbilt) d. Akari Matsuno/Jessica Kovalcik (Notre Dame), 6-2
No. 3 — No. 46 Mia Yamakita/Erin Pearce (Vanderbilt) vs. Rylie Hanford/Gabriella Rawles (Notre Dame), 4-4 abandoned
Singles – 4, 6, 3
No. 1 — No. 58 Bianca Molnar (Notre Dame) vs. Celia Belle Mohr (Vanderbilt), 6-2, 4-5 abandoned
No. 2 — No. 17 Valeria Ray (Vanderbilt) vs. Akari Matsuno (Notre Dame), 6-4, 4-5 abandoned
No. 3 — No. 33 Bridget Stammel (Vanderbilt) d. Bojana Pozder (Notre Dame), 7-5, 6-2
No. 4 — No. 36 Mia Yamakita (Vanderbilt) d. Sophia Holod (Notre Dame), 6-1, 6-3
No. 5 — Rylie Hanford (Notre Dame) vs. Trinetra Vijayakumar (Vanderbilt), 6-2, 2-6, 2-0 abandoned
No. 6 — Erin Pearce (Vanderbilt) d. Mari-Louise Van Zyl (Notre Dame), 6-2, 6-4
– ND –