Chambana Sun

The Illinois women's tennis team faced a challenging start to their season, suffering a 4-2 defeat against Notre Dame on Saturday. The match took place at the Eck Tennis Pavilion, marking Notre Dame's second win of the season. This result adds to Illinois' historical record against Notre Dame, now standing at 9-31.

Illinois head coach Evan Clark now holds a personal coaching record of 131-86 with the Illini and an overall career record of 162-97.

In doubles play, Illinois secured the first point with victories in two matches. McKenna Schaefbauer and Kasia Treiber achieved a 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles, while Alice Xu and Ariel Madatali claimed a 6-4 victory at No. 3 doubles.

Notre Dame quickly responded in singles competition by winning three consecutive matches. Akari Matsuno defeated Madatali (6-0, 6-2), Rylie Hanford overcame Xu (6-1, 6-3), and Nibi Ghosh triumphed over Treiber (6-3, 6-2).

Kida Ferrari managed to narrow the gap for Illinois with her win at No. 5 singles against Bianca Molnar (7-6(5), 6-4). However, Notre Dame clinched the match as Bojana Pozder secured victory over Schaefbauer in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-2).

Looking ahead, Illinois will host Northwestern on January 25th followed by Georgia Tech on January 31st and Colorado on February 2nd before hosting the ITA National Indoor Championships from February 7th to February 9th.

Final Score: Notre Dame (2–0) - Illinois (0–1): Doubles results included unfinished games at No.1 between Megan Heuser/Kida Ferrari vs Beckman/Matsuno; however Schaefbauer/Treiber won their match along with Xu/Madatali’s triumphs in other categories leading into singles where results were more varied but ultimately ended favorably for Notre Dame.