April 16, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team will close out the regular season in whirlwind fashion this weekend with matches in South Carolina and South Bend.
The No. 33 Fighting Irish (14-7, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) will face off with No. 21 Clemson (14-8, 9-4 ACC) at 2:30 p.m. EDT on Friday at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center in Clemson, South Carolina. The Irish will return home for the season finale and senior day on Sunday, taking on Duke at noon EDT at the Courtney Tennis Center. Sunday’s match will be preceded by a short ceremony honoring Irish seniors Katherine White and Molly O’Koniewski.
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CLOSE UP ONÂ CLEMSON: Notre Dame is 8-3 all-time against Clemson in a series that dates to 1992, though the Tigers got the better of the Irish in last season’s meeting in a 4-3 decision at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Entering Friday’s contest, the 21st-ranked Tigers are 14-8 on the season and 9-4 in conference play. Clemson is anchored by No. 14 Joana Eidukonyte, No. 36 Romy Koelzer and No. 59 Beatrice Gumulya in singles and No. 3 Gumulya and Jessy Rompies in doubles.
DUKING IT OUT: Saturday’s will be the 23rd all-time meeting between the Irish and Duke, with the Blue Devils owning an 18-3-1 record against the Irish. Duke won its first 13 matches against the Irish before Notre Dame won its first match in the series in 2006.
The No. 23 Blue Devils check in with a 14-8 overall record and a 9-3 mark in ACC play heading into the weekend. They will play Wake Forest at home on Friday before traveling to South Bend to wrap up the regular season. Duke is led in the ITA rankings by No. 37 Ester Goldfeld, No. 84 Samantha Harris, No. 116 Beatrice Capra and No. 121 Rachel Kahan in singles and No. 51 Capra and Harris and No. 58 Annie Mulholland and Harris in the doubles scrolls.
SENIOR SEND-OFF: A short ceremony will precede Sunday’s match against Duke as we honor seniors Katherine White and Molly O’Koniewski for their contributions to the Notre Dame women’s tennis program in their time under the dome.
RANKINGS UPDATE: In the latest ITA team poll (April 14), Notre Dame dropped two spots to No. 33 after a loss to No. 17 Miami last Friday.
DOUBLE DUTY: Since starting the season 2-2, 22nd-ranked doubles tandem Quinn Gleason and Monica Robinson have been on a tear of late, winning eight of their last 10 completed matches for a 13-5 dual match record at No. 1 doubles. The pair also top the Irish singles lineup, with Gleason holding a 11-8 record at No. 1 and Robinson posting an 11-10 record between No. 1 and No. 2.
FROM THE BOTTOM UP: The Irish have excelled at the bottom half of their singles lineup this season, with contributions on Courts 4, 5 and 6 proving valuable. Notre Dame owns a .573 (35-26) winning percentage at Nos. 4, 5 and 6, while their winning percentage at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 falls behind at .532 (33-29). The Irish get their best winning percentage on Court 5 (.650, 13-7), which is most often occupied by Allison Miller. The freshman owns an 11-6 record at No. 5, and is 14-6 in dual play this season (3-0 at No. 4).
ACC DOUBLES STAND OUT: The Atlantic Coast Conference owns six of the top 30 spots in the ITA Doubles rankings, including Robinson and Gleason at No. 22.
TOP-NOTCH GLEASON: Junior Quinn Gleason currently ranks 15th all-time in Irish history in singles dual-match winning percentage (minimum 20 matches). Her 48-21 (.695) record thus far puts her just behind former teammate Jennifer Kellner (’14, .700, T-14th) and ahead of Britney Sanders (’14, .660, 16th).
CONFERENCE CONFIDENCE: The Irish are 8-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, matching their conference win total from last season with two conference matches remaining. Last season, Notre Dame opened the conference slate 0-4 before going 8-2 the rest of the season to finish 7th (of 15) in the standings. The Irish sit in sixth place behind North Carolina, Miami, Duke, Virginia and Clemson.
RETURN TO REGULAR SCORING: The Atlantic Coast Conference has moved to re-implement the regular scoring format utilized in 2014. To begin the season, matches have been played with no-ad scoring, based on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s recommendations for increasing pace of play. Going forward, all conference matches will once again include an eight-game pro-set for the doubles point with a tiebreak at 7-7, and advantage scoring will be used. For women’s play, doubles play will be stopped once the doubles point is clinched, and singles will utilize a match tiebreak (first to 10 by two) in lieu of a third set once the match is clinched.
Joanne Norell, Media Relations Assistant
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