SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team hosted the Wisconsin Badgers, Kentucky Wildcats and the Columbia Lions in a three-day event over the weekend. The Irish and the trio of competitors competed in a blind dual tournament, taking on a different team each day.
Friday saw the Irish take on Columbia at the Courtney Tennis Center. The team of Yashna Yellayi and Carrie Beckman narrowly defeated the Columbia tandem of Shivani Amineni and Winta Tewolde, 7-6 (6). Freshmen Akari Matsuno and Riley Hanford teamed up for a 6-3 win over Rachele Rimondini and Sophia Strugnell.
In singles play, Bojana Pozder, Nibi Ghosh and Hanford each recorded a win. Pozder handled Anna Zhang, 6-4. 6-1. Ghosh finished off Sophia Wang in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 and Hanford defeated Michelle Xu 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Saturday saw the Irish take on the Badgers. The dual started with a split of the four doubles pairings. Yellayi and Hanford picked up a 6-4 win over Ariel Johnson and Charmaine Seah. Beckman and Ghosh combined for a 6-3 in their doubles event.
Singles action saw the Irish take all five matches with the Badgers. Pozder and Ghosh each earned straight set wins, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-2, respectively. Hanford slugged through a three-set win over Johnson, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 before Matsuno (6-3, 6-2) and Coleman (6-2, 6-2) each tallied wins.
The invitational wrapped up Sunday as the Irish took on Kentucky. Notre Dame took two of three doubles matches. Again it was Yellayi and Hanford earning a win, 6-4. Pozder and Matsuno teamed for a 6-1 win.
In singles play, the Irish took four of the seven flights. Pozder earned a straight set win over Zoe Hammond, 6-4, 6-3. Ghosh rallied for a three-set win, 1-6, 6-2, 10-8 over Elizabeth Stevens. Matsuno went to tiebreakers in both sets, but earned the win over Maialen Morante, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). Yellayi added a 1-6, 6-3, 13-11 win over Makayla Mills to wrap the weekend for the Irish.
For their efforts during the weekend, Pozder and Ghosh were received All-Invitational honors for their performance in singles play. The tandem of Yellayi and Hansford went undefeated in doubles to earn All-Invitational honors.
Up Next
The Irish are back in action October 20-25 as part of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.