PROVO -- The No. 49 women's tennis team will be playing at home against No. 15 Notre Dame this weekend at 3 p.m. at the BYU indoor tennis courts. The Cougars are coming off a tough road trip in which they played three nationally ranked opponents in four days.
"It's good to be home," said BYU head coach Craig Manning. "Last weekend was a tough one for us. We fought really hard in each match, but we just seemed to come up a little short."
Last weekend, the Cougars lost to No. 42 Washington, 4-3, No. 20 Washington, 5-2 and No. 16 Fresno State, 5-2. Manning said all three matches were close and his team played tough in every match.
With Notre Dame coming into town this Saturday, the Cougars won't be getting much of a break.
"Notre Dame is always really tough," said Manning. "But with us playing at home, I know we will be ready to play and will play them tough. We haven't been blown-out by any team yet this year and we have played some of the best in the nation."
The Irish currently have a 6-5 record. They come into this match with a lot of momentum having beat No. 13 Texas 6-1 last Sunday. However, the Cougars have been getting some great play from the freshmen on the team and Manning thinks his team will be competitive.
"Olga (Boulytcheva) is playing really well for us right now," said Manning. "She only lost one match in both singles and doubles last weekend. That is tough considering we were playing such great teams. Hadley (MacFarlane) has also been playing really well all year. She lost her first match of the year against Fresno State on Monday, but other than that, she has been really solid for us."
After this week's match with Notre Dame, the Cougars will next play against No. 11 Tennessee in Provo on March 18 at noon.