April 4, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team continues its streak of victories with a third consecutive sweep this afternoon. The 20th-ranked Irish defeated Maryland, 7-0.
“I thought we played really well,” said head coach Jay Louderback. “We’ve been working on our doubles a lot and they looked good. It was good to see us play well at No. 3 doubles-we had a new team in and they did great.”
The new team at No. 3 doubles was made up of freshman Mary Closs and junior Molly O’Koniewski, who quickly beat Olga Gaistuck and Olivia Gaudreault, 8-1. Eighth-ranked sophomore Quinn Gleason and senior Britney Sanders defeated Welma Luus and Nataliya Bredikhina 8-4 at No. 1, clinching the doubles point for the Irish.
“We finished four singles matches very quickly, which made things not very dramatic, which is great,” Louderback added. “But it was good at our No. 1 and No. 2 singles to see both come back in those first sets. They had great tiebreakers, and I thought a good start to the weekend for us.”
Senior Jennifer Kellner quickly defeated Kristina Hovsepyan, 6-2, 6-0, and freshman Monica Robinson was right behind her with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Luus at No. 4. Closs sealed the Notre Dame match victory at No. 5 with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Olga Bredikhina. Sophomore Julie Vrabel also recorded a definitive win over Gaistruck, 6-1, 6-2.
At No. 1 and No. 2, Sanders and Gleason’s matches both went to match tiebreakers after split sets. Gleason won hers over Nataliya, 10-6, and Sanders beat Alexandra Stanova, 10-4 in her own tiebreaker.
The Irish are back in action against Pittsburgh in the Eck Tennis Pavilion at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
–Lauren Chval, Media Relations Assistant
–ND–