Irish prepare to face Wake Forest in ACC tournament

By J.J. POST

Associate sports e ditor o n Thursday morning, the n otre d ame women’s tennis team will begin A cc tournament action against Wake Forest in c ary, n orth c arolina.

The matchup with the n o. 9 seed d emon d eacons could be a fortuitous one for the Irish. n otre d ame faced off against then- n o. 25 Wake Forest earlier in the year and came away with a convincing 7-0 victory. The triumph in s outh b end marked the only conference game the Irish swept all spring.

The Irish will also enter with the advantage in the momentum department. n otre d ame picked up a pair of wins over the weekend, dispatching s yracuse and b oston c ollege at home. o ne interesting storyline to keep an eye on is how both teams play at the neutral venue in c ary. b oth Wake Forest and n otre d ame have built their strong records on excellent play at home. b ut their results away from each team’s respective standard confines have been less than stellar.

Wake Forest, on the other hand, lost their last conference outing 6-1 to n o. 9 v irginia. The d eacons then picked up a win outside of A cc play against n orth c arolina A&T, however.

The Irish are 3-6 away from s outh b end, as opposed to 12-3 at e ck Tennis Pavillion. The d emon d eacons are 4-8 outside of Winstons alem, which starkly contrasts a 12-4 home mark. While c ary is certainly closer to Winstons alem than s outh b end, both teams will be outside of familiar territory. Potentially of note in that department for n otre d ame is the teams’ fall performance at the ITA All-American championships. Four Irish players competed in the event which was held at c ary Tennis Park.

The winner of the n otre d ame-Wake Forest showdown will then square off against topseeded n orth c arolina. The Tar h eels are arguably the hardest matchup in nc AA women’s tennis, currently ranked n o. 1 in the nation. n orth c arolina is yet to lose a match all season, steamrolling through both their non-conference and A cc regular season slate without issue. s aid slate included prior matchups against both Wake Forest and n otre d ame, which the Tar h eels won 4-0 and 7-0 respectively. Those matches make up two of the squad’s nine sweeps so far in 2023. A standard bearer in the sport, n orth c arolina has advanced to four