EAST LANSING, Mich. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Midwest Regional, hosted by Michigan State this past weekend. The Fighting Irish saw eight compete in singles action, with four teams competing in the doubles events.
To begin the event, the Irish saw two of three student-athletes earn their way into the main draw. Carrie Beckman defeated Northern Illinois’s Reagan Welch (6-7, (6), 6-4, 6-1) and Ariane Souligny of Western Michigan (6-3, 6-1) to advance to the main draw, eventually falling to Wisconsin’s Alina Mukhortova, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Also working out of the qualifying round was Rylie Hanford. Hanford defeated Natalie Stasny of Michigan State (6-2, 6-3) and Tijana Zlatanovic of Illinois State (6-0, 6-1) to earn her way into the main draw. She continued that momentum with wins over Ohio State’s Madaline Atway (6-3, 6-4) and Toledo’s Cassie Alcala (6-1, 5-7, 6-4) before falling to Jaeden Brown of Michigan (6-1, 6-2).
Maria Olivia Castedo also competed in the qualifying round, but fell 6-4, 6-1 to DePaul’s Saha Sakura Stula.
Julia Andreach finished 2-1 in the main draw, earning wins over Northwestern’s Autrum Rabjohns (6-3, 6-3) and Milwaukee’s Nadila Konieva (6-2, 6-1) in straight sets. She dropped a tough three-set match to Michigan’s Bayley Sheinin (6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-3).
Page Freeman picked up a pair of wins in the main draw. She knocked off Silvia Pomarolli of Illinois State (6-2, 6-2) and won by injury forfeit over Violeta Martinez from Illinois. Freeman’s tournament concluded with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 loss to Christina Hand of Northwestern.
Nibi Ghosh fell in the opening round of the main draw, dropping a 6-2, 6-3 decision to Michigan’s Lily Jones. Bojana Pozder also dropped her first round match, falling in three sets to Ohio State’s Shelly Bereznyak (6-4, 4-6, 6-1).
Akari Matsuno split her two matches of the main draw, winning in three sets (6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (4)) before falling to Wisconsin’s Maria Sholokhova, also in three (6-2, 0-6, 6-2).
Doubles action saw the pairings of Andreach and Beckman, Freeman and Castedo, Matsuno and Pozder and Hanford and Yellayi take the court.
Andreach and Beckman advanced to the quarterfinals, winning their first two matches. The pairing defeated Elenor Nobbs and Emily Casati handily (8-2) before going to a tiebreaker set against Wisconsin’s Ariel Johnson and Sholokhova, earning an 8-7 (4) win. The run concluded with an 8-6 loss to Luciana Perry and Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State.
Freeman and Castedo got their competition started with an 8-4 win over Valeriya Monko and Lindsey Ziegler of Western Michigan, and were equally as dominant in an 8-3 win over Nadiia Konieva and Laure Razet from Milwaukee. The Irish duo was defeated by Illinois Katherine Duong and Megan Hueser, 8-5.
Matsuno and Pozder also added a pair of wins in the doubles draw. The sophomore tandem earned an 8-6 win over Western Michigan’s Karin Hamilton and Polina Khotko before defeating DePaul’s Evan Goncharov and Sasha Sakura Stula, 8-5. Michigan’s pairing of Brown and Kari Miller ended the Irish run with an 8-4 score in the round of 16.
Hanford and Yellayi rounded out the action for the weekend. The pair received a first round bye before earning an 8-6 win over Toledo’s Sanjana Tallamraju and Julia Kuszynski. DePaul’s Greta Carbone and Hannah Smith put a halt to the run with an 8-4 score in the round of 16.
The Fighting Irish are back in action at the TCU Invitational, October 26th through the 29th.