Zoe Spence

Irish Take First ACC Match Of Season

WEXFORD, Pa. — The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team captured a 6-1 decision in its first Atlantic Coast Conference match of the season with a victory at Pitt on Sunday afternoon. The Irish captured the doubles point before winning at one, three, four, five and six singles.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Zoe Spence and Cameron Corse, the ITA’s No. 44 doubles team at the end of the fall campaign, captured a 6-3 victory at the top of the doubles lineup over Pitt’s Natsumi Okamoto and Luisa Varon. Bess Waldram and Brooke Broda secured the point for the Irish with a 6-4 win at the two spot over Gabriela Rezende and Claudia Bartolome. Rachel Chong and Ally Bojczuk held a 5-4 lead at three doubles in an unfinished match.

Pitt evened the score in singles action, with Bartolome (No. 76) winning a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Waldram. With the score 1-1, Notre Dame won every remaining match, first at the top of the singles lineup, where Spence defeated Varon, 6-1, 6-4.

The lead extended to 3-1 in favor of the visitors with Corse taking a 6-1, 6-2 victory from Rezende on court four and the Irish clinched the victory on court three where Broda defeated Moreno 6-2, 7-5.

Notre Dame went on to win the two remaining matches, both wins for rookies as Maeve Koscielski won in straight sets over Okamoto (6-1, 7-5), while Taylor rebounded from dropping the first set to defeat Mariona Perez Noguera (6-7 (7), 6-2, 10-1).

NOTES

  • Notre Dame improved to 8-0 all-time against Pitt, in what will be the final meeting between the programs. Pittsburgh announced it is discontinuing women’s tennis at the conclusion of the season on January 10, 2019.
  • Waldram’s defeat at two singles marked the first singles defeat for a Notre Dame player in 2019.
  • It marked the first time in the dual season Corse and Spence played together at doubles. The duo went 6-3 as doubles partners in the fall of 2018.
  • The parings of Bojczuk/Chong and Waldram/Broda are both 2-0 together in 2019.
  • Freshmen Koscielski (fifth) and Taylor (sixth) are the only Irish players to have seen action at the same spot in the singles lineup this spring. 
  • The Pitt match was the first of four consecutive matches away from the Eck Tennis Pavilion.

SCOREBOARD

Notre Dame 6, Pitt 1
Jan 27, 2019 at Wexford, Pa. (Oxford Athletic Club) 

Singles competition
1. Zoe Spence (ND) def. Luisa Varon (UP) 6-1, 6-4
2. #76 Claudia Bartolome (UP) def. Bess Waldram (ND) 6-2, 6-2
3. Brooke Broda (ND) def. Camila Moreno (UP) 6-2, 7-5
4. Cameron Corse (ND) def. Gabriela Rezende (UP) 6-1, 6-2
5. Maeve Koscielski (ND) def. Natsumi Okamoto (UP) 6-1, 7-5
6. Zoe Taylor (ND) def. M. Perez Noguera (UP) 6-7 (6-7), 6-2, 10-1
Doubles competition
1. Zoe Spence/Cameron Corse (ND) def. Natsumi Okamoto/Luisa Varon (UP) 6-3
2. Bess Waldram/Brooke Broda (ND) def. Gabriela Rezende/Claudia Bartolome (UP) 6-4
3. Rachel Chong/Ally Bojczuk (ND) def. Clara Lucas/Camila Moreno (UP) 5-4
Match Notes
Notre Dame 3-0, 1-0 ACC
Pitt 1-2, 0-1 ACC
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (2,1,4,3,5,6)

UP NEXT

First-year head coach Alison Silverio’s team embarks on five-straight matches against Big Ten opponents on Sunday, Feb. 3, when the Irish visit Ohio State. That follows with trips to Illinois (Feb. 8) and Indiana (Feb. 10) before Purdue (Feb. 13) and Michigan State (Feb. 16) visit the Eck Tennis Pavilion.