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SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame continued to defend the home courts Sunday morning, winning 5-2 over Xavier. The Irish are now an impressive 10-1 this season, and 8-1 inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
The Irish secured the early advantage in the doubles portion of the morning. Rylie Hanford and Maria Olivia Castedo won at No. 3 doubles 6-3. After a Xavier win on No. 1 doubles, the duo of Akari Matsuno and Bianca Molnar secured the early team point for the Irish with a tight 7-5 win on court two.
Hanford made quick work at No. 5 singles, winning 6-2, 6-1. The junior from Chesterland, Ohio is a team-best 9-1 in 2025.
Xavier would tie the match at two apiece with wins at No. 6 and No. 4 singles.
Bojana Pozder battled during her match on court two, taking the three set win 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 for the third Irish point. Pozder has won her past two matches at the second singles position.
The No. 1 singles match sealed the deal for Notre Dame, Matsuno, the 71st-ranked player in the ITA’s latest singles rankings, battled back in an intense matchup. After taking the top set in a tiebreaker, Xavier’s Elizabeth Pendergast tied it up with a 6-3 win to force a third set. Matsuno didn’t falter, winning the third set 6-3 to clinch Notre Dame’s 10th win this spring.
Molnar finished her match at four singles after the clinch. Similar to Matsuno, Molnar won a tiebreaker in the first set before dropping the second set 5-7, but prevailed with a 6-2 win in the deciding set for her sixth win of the spring. She is now a perfect 4-0 at No. 4 singles.
Notre Dame heads out to begin conference play next weekend, traveling to Dallas, Texas to take on SMU at 4:00 pm ET/3:00 pm CT.
Notre Dame 5, Xavier 2
Singles:
1. #71 Akari Matsuno (ND) def. Elizabeth Pendergast (XAV) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-32. Bojana Pozder (ND) def. Abby Nugent (XAV) 6-1, 2-6, 6-33. Madeleine Rexroat (XAV) def. Carrie Beckman (ND) 7-5, 7-54. Bianca Molnar (ND) def. Emily Flowers (XAV) 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 6-25. Rylie Hanford (ND) def. Abigail Siminski (XAV) 6-2, 6-16. Clara Owen (XAV) def. Kate Bellia (ND) 6-4, 6-0
Doubles:
1. #22 Abby Nugent/Clara Owen (XAV) def. Carrie Beckman/Bojana Pozder (ND) 6-42. Akari Matsuno/Bianca Molnar (ND) def. Emily Flowers/Elizabeth Pendergast (XAV) 7-53. Rylie Hanford/Maria Olivia Castedo (ND) def. Madeleine Rexroat/Natalie Smitek (XAV) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,6,3,2,1,4)
