April 6, 2018
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Revenge may have not been the motivating factor behind the University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team’s 5-2 victory over Duke on Friday, but it was certainly what the No. 30 Irish served up to the No. 18 Blue Devils in the day’s late match at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
After losing in a 4-3 gut-wrencher on Feb. 18 at the ITA National Indoor Team Championships, the Irish flashed the kind of late-match resolve needed to find success in the Atlantic Coast Conference. With the match on the line, Notre Dame won two three-set singles matches and shook off any lingering poor feelings from their last meeting with the Blue Devils.
How It Happened
The Irish (13-11, 4-4 ACC) snared the doubles point for the second time in as many matches with Duke (13-9, 4-3 ACC) this season. In a close replica of their previous match on Feb. 18, senior Brendon Kempin and freshman Tristan McCormick defeated Nick Stachowiak and Sean Sculley 6-3 on Court 1 (it was 6-4 in the first match-up). Junior Grayson Broadus and freshman Richard Ciamarra then clinched it on Court 3, defeating Ryan Dickerson and Robert Levine 7-6(3).
Junior Alex Lebedev gave the Irish a 2-0 lead, defeating No. 99 Catalin Mateas 6-0, 6-4 on Court 1. The lead grew to 3-1 when, while Duke won on Court 4, Ciamarra defeated Stachowiak 6-4, 6-2 on Court 2 after initially trailing 3-0 in the first set.
But – just as in that first meeting of the season – the final team point would not come easily. The matches on Courts 3 and 6 reached third sets, while McCormick’s match on Court 5 was equally as lengthy, with two sets needing seven games to form a decision.
It was Duke that earned the next point, when Sculley pulled out that 7-6(8), 7-5 win over McCormick, but both Grayson Broadus and sophomore Guillermo Cabrera dug themselves out from significant deficits to give the Irish their shot at the victory.
Broadus was who ultimately sealed the win, defeating Dickerson 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. First, the Irish junior won five straight games to take a one-set lead. Then, after dropping the second, he won the first game of the third and corralled momentum from a game penalty to Dickerson, who whacked the tarp in frustration. From there, Broadus cruised.
On the opposite side of the Eck Tennis Pavilion, Cabrera worked out of a third-set jam of his own. The sophomore forced a third set after dropping the first to Spencer Furman, but went down 5-2 in the final stanza. He then won four straight, however, to go up 6-5 before Furman initiated the tiebreaker. The two traded points until it was 6-all, but Cabrera tallied the final two points to prevail 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) and put an exclamation point on Notre Dame’s 5-2 win.
Coach Ryan Sachire Says
On the attitude approaching the team’s second meeting with Duke this season…
“We really respect Duke’s program. There’s a rivalry there and I think any time we play them, we know it’s going to be a close, tightly contested match. Having played them a couple of months ago in Seattle, it was exactly like it was today; they just happened to get the fourth point. We knew what to expect and we knew there was a resolve and determination to get it done. I don’t think we wanted to win more tonight than we have in the past – we want to win every match – but I think any time you lose and have a revenge factor, there’s a determination that you want to get it done this time.”
On the team’s resilience in a close situationââ’¬¦
“One of the things I was proudest of was that pretty much any time we got broken, we broke right back. That’s something an inferior competitor doesn’t do – get down on himself and allows some adversity to bleed into more adversity. Our guys did a really good job of fighting back any time we got down or faced some adversity. That’s a great sign. It was a good competitive effort; it was a close match; and I’m just proud of our guys to find a way to get it done at the end.”
Up Next
The Irish will close their home slate next weekend with a match against Miami on Friday (3:30 p.m. ET) and a doubleheader with Florida State (11:30 a.m. ET) and Ball State (4:30 p.m. ET) on Sunday. Notre Dame will close the season on the road at Georgia Tech (April 20) and Clemson (April 22).
Scoreboard
No. 30 Notre Dame 5, No. 18 Duke 2
April 6, 2018
Eck Tennis Pavilion
Notre Dame, Ind.
Singles
1. No. 55 Alex Lebedev (ND) def. No. 99 Catalin Mateas (DU) 6-0, 6-4
2. Richard Ciamarra (ND) def. Nick Stachowiak (DU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Guillermo Cabrera (ND) def. Spencer Furman (DU) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)
4. Robert Levine (DU) def. Matt Gamble (ND) 6-4, 6-1
5. Sean Sculley (DU) def. Tristan McCormick (ND) 7-6(8), 7-5
6. Grayson Broadus (ND) def. Ryan Dickerson (DU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-2
Doubles
1. Brendon Kempin / Tristan McCormick (ND) def. Nick Stachowiak / Sean Sculley (DU) 6-4
2. Guillermo Cabrera / Alex Lebedev (ND) vs. Catalin Mateas / Jason Lapidus (DU) 6-5, unfinished
3. Grayson Broadus / Richard Ciamarra (ND) def. Ryan Dickerson / Robert Levine (DU) 7-6(3)
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For the latest on all things Irish men’s tennis, follow @NDMensTennis on Twitter and ndmenstennis on Instagram and like Notre Dame Men’s Tennis on Facebook.
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Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame men’s tennis and fencing programs, in addition to assisting with football communications and overseeing production of the football Gameday Magazine. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.