Notre Dame women\u2019s tennis began its 2026 postseason journey at last weekend\u2019s Atlantic Coast Conference championships in Cary, N.C. Going 16-8, the Irish came into the tournament as the conference No. 10 seed and quickly showed that they are not to be underestimated. They began the tournament with a second-round matchup against No. 15 Boston College and advanced with a 4-2 victory. The win set them up against No. 6 Clemson, whom they defeated 4-3 in stunning fashion. Notre Dame ultimately fell short against No. 2 North Carolina with a final score of 1-4, but the Irish nevertheless demonstrated their ability to compete with the best teams in the nation.<\/p>\n
Boston College<\/p>\n
Things got off to a rough start against Boston College, with senior Akari Matsuno and freshman Mari-Louise Van Zyl falling 6-4 to Eagles Olivia Cutone and Leyden Games. Sophomore Bianca Molnar and senior Bojana Pozder pulled one back for the Irish, battling past Seren Agar and Olivia Benton 6-4. Boston College managed to tough it out at the No. 2 doubles position, with Bella Camacho and Tola Glowacka defeating Notre Dame senior Rylie Hanford and freshman Gabriella Rawles 7-5.<\/p>\n
The Irish brought the heat in singles, however, with Matsuno setting the tone with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Agar. Freshman Sophia Holod made her first appearance of the tournament, defeating Glowacka 7-5, 6-4 to hand Notre Dame the lead. Hanford followed up with a gritty 6-4, 6-4 win against Camacho before Games finally took a singles match for Boston College, beating Pozder 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Notre Dame freshman Jessica Kovalcik put the dual to rest, defeating Nadia Barteck in a clutch comeback win, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Clemson<\/p>\n
There was no rest for the weary, as Notre Dame advanced to take on a strong Clemson team in round three. Hanford and Rawles kicked off doubles play, knocking out Clemson\u2019s Talia Neilson-Gatenby and Romana Cisovska 6-4. Van Zyl and Matsuno secured the team doubles point, defeating Sophie Clayton and Artemis Aslanisvili 6-3.<\/p>\n
Clemson quickly turned the tables in singles, starting with Neilson-Gatenby, who flew past Holod 6-3, 6-0 to put the Tigers on the board. Aslanisvili went on to defeat Hanford 6-4, 6-1, and Cisovska followed suit, demolishing Pozder 6-2, 6-1 to put Notre Dame on thin ice. Kovalcik continued her solid weekend, beating Ria Bhakta 6-2, 6-2 and sparking a glimmer of hope for the Irish. Matsuno tied things up with a gutsy 7-5, 6-4 win over Rinon Okuwaki before Molnar completed a triumphant Notre Dame comeback, powering past Jade Groen 6-1, 5-7, 6-1.<\/p>\n
North Carolina<\/p>\n
The Irish carried that momentum into their dual against the Tar Heels, where they came out guns blazing in doubles. No. 7-ranked Tar Heel duo Oby Kajuru and Susanna Maltby crushed Pozder and Molnar 6-0 in the opening match. Hanford and Rawles quickly responded for the Irish by upsetting No. 5-ranked Alanis Hamilton and Reese Brantmeier 6-4. Matsuno and Van Zyl snagged the doubles point for Notre Dame, defeating Anna Frey and Maddy Zampardo 7-5.<\/p>\n
The Irish could not maintain their firepower in singles, where they faced a lineup of three players ranked inside the top 40. Kajuru flew past Matsuno 6-2, 6-2. The match was followed shortly by Brantmeier, who upended Molnar 6-3, 6-3. Tatum Evans made it 3-1, defeating Sophia Holod 7-5, 6-3 before Zampardo closed out the dual with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 win against Notre Dame\u2019s Hanford.<\/p>\n
It was an overall successful weekend for the women\u2019s team, who managed to play above their seed and work their way into the quarterfinals. The comeback against Clemson served as a testament to their mental toughness under pressure, which has been built by a brutal schedule this spring. Not to be overlooked, the doubles win over North Carolina and two top 10 pairs should provide a tremendous confidence boost heading into the tail end of the season.<\/p>\n
Things will only get tougher from here, as the Irish prepare to face a gauntlet at the 2026 NCAA championships. The team will need to show the same grit and consistency they did this weekend if they wish\u200b to make a deep run and leave a mark on the college tennis landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Notre Dame women\u2019s tennis began its 2026 postseason journey at last weekend\u2019s Atlantic Coast Conference championships in Cary,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-620773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}