ORLANDO, Fl. — The Notre Dame Women’s Tennis team knocked off Southern Cal in a nail-biting, 4-3 victory at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.
For the second consecutive match, the Irish earned a 4-3 victory by winning the final singles match of the competition. This time, Julia Lilien played hero, battling to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over the Trojans’ Estella Jaeger.
Irish for the Finish! 👏
Notre Dame upsets No. 20 USC at #CollegeMatchDay! @NDWomensTennis | @FightingIrish pic.twitter.com/3iS4g5zpWi
— USTA (@usta) February 16, 2020
How It Happened
After dropping the doubles point, the Irish came from behind to secure four singles victories en route to a win over Southern Cal.
Maeve Koscielski, who earned the clinching point last weekend against Purdue, picked up the first Irish point of the day, defeating Payton Saca, 6-1, 6-1. Page Freeman and Ally Bojczuk followed with singles wins of their own to add two Irish points.
Bojczuk took Sydney Van Alphen to three sets and earned a decisive, 6-1 third-set victory to clinch the point. Freeman defeated Danielle Willson, 6-3, 6-3, to add a point to the board.
With the competition tied at three, Lilien earned the deciding point to bring home the Irish victory. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Lilien rebounded to earn a 6-3 victory of her own to tie the match. In the third set, tied at six apiece, Lilien battled, winning the tiebreaker and clinching the victory for the Irish.
Up Next
The Irish head to the USTA campus in Lake Nona, FL, for the College MatchDay competition. The Irish will battle Southern Cal on Feb. 15. The match will begin at 5 p.m. ET and live updates will be available on Twitter via @NDWomensTennis, while the match will also be shown live on Tennis Channel +.
—ND—