SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team is set to take on the Xavier Musketeers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday morning at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan will host the Fighting Irish in the postseason for the second-straight season. The Chicago State Cougars will round out the quartet in the first two rounds, taking on the third-ranked Wolverines. Winners of each match will advance to Sunday’s second round.
Live results and a video feed for all weekend matches will be available on the Notre Dame women’s tennis schedule page.
This is the second-consecutive season that the Irish have earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament, and the second time the Irish will head to Ann Arbor. Last year, the Irish cruised past Ball State, 4-0 before taking on the host Wolverines, falling 4-1. Prior to the 2023 postseason appearance, the Irish had gone six years without qualifying for the postseason. This will be the third time the Irish will head to Ann Arbor for the first and second round, also competing there in 2023 and 2013, each time falling to the Wolverines in the second round.
Notre Dame will take on Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Earlier this season, the Irish and Musketeers met at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The Irish earned a 4-0 win in that matchup, getting singles wins from Page Freeman, Bojana Pozder, and Akari Matsuno. Notre Dame took the doubles point to start the match with a 6-2 win at No.1 from Freeman and Julia Andreach, and a 7-6 (3) win at No. 2 by Bojana Pozder and Nibi Ghosh.
Historically, the Irish are 4-0 against Xavier, and 2-0 against the Musketeers in the Silverio-era. Other wins against Xavier include the 1978 fall season and a 7-0 win in January of 2006. Notre Dame is 2-0 all-time against the Cougars, defeating CSU 5-0 inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion in February. The Irish hold the all-time advantage over the Wolverines, 23-17, but are 0-1 in the Silverio-era. The last meeting came in the 2023 postseason, and prior to that meeting, the Irish and Michigan last met in February of 2017, with the Irish falling 6-1 at home.