ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Notre Dame women’s tennis team had several of its members compete at the ITA Midwest Regionals this past weekend in Ann Arbor. Julia Andreach, Maria Olivia Castedo, Nibi Ghosh, Page Freeman, Akari Matsuno, Bojana Pozder and Yashna Yellayi each competed in the singles event. The pairings of Castedo/Freeman, Ghosh/Andreach, Matsuno/Pozder and Yellayi paired with freshman Rylie Hanford in the doubles event.
In the opening round of singles action, Andreach, Matsuno, Pozder and Ghosh each notched a victory. Andreach defeated Ana Jover of UIC, 6-2, 6-0. Matsuno earned a 6-4, 6-4 win over Christina Hand of. Northwestern, as Pozder tallied a 6-4, 6-1 win over Elisabeth Desmarais of Marquette. Ghosh rounded out the first-round victories with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Ashley Yeah of Illinois.
Round two saw Notre Dame’s luck change as all four who were victorious in the first round fall to their opponents in the second round. Andreach played to three sets against Illinois’s Megan Heuser. Matsuno suffered a three-set loss to another Fighting Illini, Kasia Treiber. Pozder was outdueled by Northwestern’s Clarissa Hand and Ghosh met her match with Cecilia Rosas of Youngstown State.
Castedo and Freeman saw their names on the top line of the doubles event, earning a first round bye. The pairing defeated challengers from Cleveland State and Ohio State before falling to Northwestern’s Briana Crowley and Sydney Pratt.
Ghosh and Andreach paired to defeat a tandem from Ohio State, but fell to Xinyu Cai and Alina Mukhortova, 8-4. Matsuno and Pozder earned an opening round win over a team from Ohio State, and fought hard in its next match to Desmarais and Emilija Kojcic, but fell 8-7 (4).
Yellayi and Hanford had a first round bye before taking on Illinois State’s Silvia Pomarolli and Nevena Kolrevic, earning an 8-6 win. The Irish tandem then dropped an 8-2 decision to Irina Cantos Siemers and Sydni Ratliff from Ohio State.
Up Next
The Irish are scheduled to be in action at the ITA Fall Nationals in San Diego November 3-6 before wrapping up the spring season with the Bonita Bay Classic November 11-13 at Florida Gulf Coast.