EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Notre Dame women's tennis squad split up across two events over the weekend. Bianca Molnar, Jessica Kovalcik, and Lily Rochon competed at the ITA Central Sectional Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, while Esther Vyrlan, Skye Madatali, Nina Abalos, and Gabriella Rawles competed at a tournament hosted by Michigan State.
In East Lansing, Ester Vyrlan shone brightly with a perfect 6-0 weekend (3-0 in singles, 3-0 in doubles). The junior picked up two singles wins against Big Ten competition, which included a three-set thriller against Michigan's Reagan Levine.
In doubles, Vyrlan won twice with Skye Madatali, then capped the weekend with a doubles win with Gabriella Rawles over Michigan's Rahnel/McGill.
In fact, the Irish as a whole went undefeated on Sunday at Michigan State. Abalos was the final day highlight, knocking off No. 52 Gian Octa of Boston College in three sets [4-6, 7-6(4), 10-7] for her first ranked win. Abalos went 2-1 on the weekend in singles, like her fellow freshman Madatali.
Down at ITA Sectionals, both Bianca Molnar and Jessica Kovalcik unfortunately lost in the opening main draw round. Molnar suffered a straight-set loss to No. 60 Lexington Reed of Texas A&M, but bounced back in the consolation bracket with a ranked win over No. 115 Audrey Spencer of Ohio State [6-4, 2-6, 10-6].
Molnar and her doubles partner Lily Rochon finished 1-1 in doubles. They won their opening-round match 7-5, 6-0 over TCU's Chica/Matushkina, but then lost 6-2, 6-2 to No. 13 McGinley/Van Impe of SMU.