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Inside Irish: NC State & Miami

March 23, 2017

By Joanne Norell

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 26th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team will welcome a pair of ranked Atlantic Coast Conference adversaries to campus this weekend, taking on No. 35 NC State and No. 37 Miami (Fla,) on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Match 17
WHO: No. 26 Notre Dame (14-2, 4-1 ACC) vs. No. 35 NC State (12-7, 1-5 ACC)
WHERE: Courtney Tennis Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
WHEN: 4 p.m. ET Friday

Match 18
WHO: No. 26 Notre Dame vs. No. 37 Miami (4-7, 3-3 ACC)
WHERE: Courtney Tennis Center | Notre Dame, Ind.
WHEN: Noon ET Sunday

RESULTS: | | WatchND (if indoors)

On The Wolfpack

  • NC State enters Friday’s match with a 12-7 record and as the winner in four of its last five matches. Against common opponents (William and Mary, Michigan State, Boston College and Virginia), both the Wolfpack and Irish are 3-1.
  • The Wolfpack boasts one player in the national singles rankings, No. 55 Martina Frantova, who is 9-8 at No. 1 singles. Four other players have 10 or more singles wins: Amanda Rebol (10-6), Adriana Reami (11-8), Bianca Maldovan (12-6) and Anna Rogers (13-5).
  • In doubles NC State is led by No. 21 Frantova and Rogers, who are 13-1 at the No. 1 slot.
  • Notre Dame owns a 2-1 edge in the all-time series, with all matches coming under head coach Jay Louderback.

On The Hurricanes

  • Miami will play at Boston College on Friday before coming to face the Irish on Sunday. The Hurricanes enter the weekend on a three-match losing streak having dropped matches to Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke.
  • The Hurricanes are led by No. 11 Sinead Lohan, who is 5-6 at No. 1 singles, and No. 33 Estela Perez-Somarriba, who is 8-2 in dual matches. In doubles, Maci Epstein and Sinead Lohan are ranked 59th nationally.
  • Notre Dame is 11-10 all-time against Miami and 10-9 under Louderback, but the Hurricanes have won each of the last three meetings since Notre Dame entered the ACC.

Last Time Out: Spring Break

Notre Dame played four matches in seven days and went 3-1 to improve to 14-2 on the season. Through their first three matches of the week, the Irish extended their winning streak to 11 before falling to Virginia on Sunday. The Irish defeated Richmond 7-0, No. 43 William & Mary 5-2 and No. 23 Wake Forest 4-1 while on their annual Spring Break trip.

Singles Standouts

The Irish are a collective 71-21 in dual singles matches this season, with five of six regular starters owning three losses or fewer. Freshman Zoe Spence and junior Allison Miller are both 14-2 on the year; senior Monica Robinson is 10-3; senior Mary Closs is 9-2 and sophomore Rachel Chong is 8-3 on the year. Junior Brooke Broda is 8-4 on the season, and has won four straight matches at No. 2 singles.

Rankings Rundown

The Irish rose five spots in the latest Oracle/ITA Division I Women’s Tennis Rankings last week, coming in at No. 26.

A Weather Note

Each match is scheduled to be played outdoors at the Courtney Tennis Center. The matches will be played outdoors unless inclement weather prevents it. According to Intercollegiate Tennis Association rules: “Matches shall be played outdoors unless the projected weather forecast for a minimum of:

  • two hours out of a three-hour time period in Division I
  • two hours out of a four-hour time period for all other divisions

from the start of the match, according to www.weather.com is:

a. A high of less than 50°; or
b. Sustained winds (not including wind gusts) of more than 20 miles per hour.
c. If the outdoor conditions have changed by the end of the doubles play, it is understood that both coaches and the Referee may agree to move the match indoors. If play is suspended at any other point during the match due to weather, play must resume outdoors within one hour of the delay. If this is not possible, matches must be moved indoors.

As of Thursday morning, the forecast for Friday is a high of 72° with 20 mph, while Sunday calls for a high of 60° with a 90 percent chance of rain. Be sure to follow @NDWomensTennis on Twitter for the most updated information on the location of each match.

Keeping Up With The Irish

All indoor home matches will be streamed live on WatchND. Live scoring will be available for all home tennis matches at UND.com, with links for each match available on the women’s tennis schedule page. Live match updates will also be shared on the team’s Twitter account, @NDWomensTennis.

To keep up with all things Irish women’s tennis, be sure to follow @NDWomensTennis on Twitter and like Notre Dame Women’s Tennis on Facebook.

–ND–

Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.