ANN ARBOR, Mich. – After falling in doubles, Fighting Irish women’s tennis survived the Xavier Musketeers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Ann Arbor. The Irish won three-straight singles matches to take the 3-1 lead before Xavier tied it up. Julia Andreach earned her 20th win of the season as she closed the match with a 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-5 win at the top flight to give the Irish the win. 30th ranked Notre Dame improves to 18-9 on the season, as Xavier falls to 19-6, with two losses to the Fighting Irish.
It is the second-consecutive season that the Irish advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament, and the 20th time the program has won at least one match in the NCAA Tournament.
How It Happened
Doubles started out in favor of the Musketeers. No. 3 was the first off the court as Xavier earned a 6-1 win. Page Freeman and Akari Matsuno evened it up with a 6-2 win at No. 2 before Xavier earned the point with a 6-3 win at No. 1.
Nibi Ghosh got the Irish on the board first. The junior earned a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 4 to tie it up. Freeman was next off the court, cleaning up with a 6-3, 6-4 tally to put the Irish in front. Bojana Pozder used a tiebreaker in set two to put the Irish up 3-1. She earned a 7-5 win in set one before taking the second set 7-6 (4). Xavier went on to tie the match, getting three-set wins at No. 5 and No. 6. Andreach put the match away in the final set, rallying to earn a 7-5 win for the Irish to advance.
Up Next
The Irish will take on the winner of the next match in Ann Arbor as the host Wolverines will take on the Chicago State Cougars. Sunday’s match will begin at 1 p.m.