Coming off a dominant performance in Louisville, The No. 20 Miami Hurricanes Women’s Tennis team stormed into South Bend to defeat No. 39 Notre Dame, 4-3, sealing two excellent road victories.
The double’s pairings got underway as Notre Dame’s Page Freeman and Julia Andreach controlled court one over Miami’s senior and sophomore pairing of Isabella Pfennig and Xinyi Nong 6-2. The ‘Canes fought back to even it out early as UM’s Leonie Schuknecht and Antonia Balzert battled, with Notre Dame’s Akari Matsuno and Carrie Beckman coming out with a 7-5 victory. The final double match of the afternoon was headlined by Miami’s top pairing of Audrey Boch-Collins and Alexa Noel, who pulled out a 7-5 victory over the Irish’s Yashna Yellayi and Nibi Ghosh, ultimately sealing court three and the opening point.
Singles matches began on court five, and Boch-Collins extended her weekend success by dominating Beckman in a controlling 6-0, 6-1 onslaught. The Irish wouldn’t go away, as ND’s Ghosh played a beautiful match to defeat Schuknecht 6-3, 6-0.
The Canes were finally able to pull away, as Miami’s Nong succeeded over Matsuno in a riveting back-and-forth battle on court six, concluding in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. With a chance to clinch the win, UM’s Pfennig began down early on court two (3-6) but resiliently fought back to secure the next two sets 6-3, 6-4, sealing the team victory for The Hurricanes in South Bend.
Despite clinching the victory, Notre Dame was able to finish the day strong. No. 71 Andreach upset No. 11 Noel on court one in a tight battle 7-6, 7-6. Over on court three, to cap off the afternoon, ND’s Bojana Pozder defeated No. 114 Balzert 5-7, 7-5, 7-5. Notre Dame’s back-to-back courts rounded out Miami’s 4-3 victory.
The Canes have been rolling in conference matches and will return home to the courts in Coral Gables to face the Clemson Tigers on Friday, March 22nd, at 2:00 p.m.