Feb. 20, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team officially kicks off ACC play tomorrow with a home match against No. 25 Georgia Tech. The Irish, ranked 22nd in the country with a 5-2 record, will take on the Yellow Jackets at 4 p.m. at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Despite the fact that this will be Notre Dame’s first match in the Atlantic Coast Conference, head coach Jay Louderback says the Irish are used to playing opponents from their new conference. However, they go into tomorrow’s match knowing there is more on the line than ever before.
“We’ve played a lot of ACC schools in the past, but we’ve never played them when it meant something for the conference,” Louderback explains. “We played Georgia Tech twice last year. But being able to start playing them in the conference is going to be a lot more special for us and a lot tougher. We’re excited to get going.”
Georgia Tech is 3-1 on the season. The Irish came away with a victory both times that the two teams faced off last season.
Notre Dame will not have much time to rest after tomorrow’s match; the Irish travel to Miami for a Sunday match on the road at noon.
“We start off quickly,” Louderback says. “We’re at Miami and then we’re at Duke the next week. And then two really tough home matches. The thing with the ACC is that they’re all good. There’s not a bad team, everybody’s tough.”
Louderback admits that in joining the ACC, the Irish will do more traveling this season than they ever have before, which will make for an exciting spring. With every team they face presenting tough competition, Notre Dame will have plenty of opportunities to grow.
The action gets started tomorrow, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. Fans can follow along with live stats here on UND.com and find results here after the match.
–Lauren Chval, Media Relations Assistant
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