SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A late addition to the University of Notre Dame men’s tennis schedule brought Michigan State to South Bend on Monday afternoon for a 4 p.m. match. Three and a half hours after the first doubles serve, the Irish would come from behind to clinch a 4-3 win against the tough Spartan team.
In doubles, after dropping the top spot for only the third time all year, new pairings at two and three would both come through to clinch the doubles point. The new duo of Evan Lee and Yu Zhang would get the first doubles win at the third spot with a 6-3 victory. Veterans Matt Che and Jean-Marc Malkowski would secure the early lead for the Irish as they would win 6-3 as well.
In singles, a battle of ranked players at the top of the lineup would go the way of the Spartans followed quickly by a win for the green and white at the second position to give them the 2-1 lead. Senior Connor Fu would tie it up with the first singles win for the Irish with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court #4. Addy Vashistha would fall in three sets to put the Irish backs against the wall.
With Michigan State holding the 3-2 advantage, Notre Dame would need to win a pair of three set singles matches to come out on top. Zhang would need to come back from a set down after dropping the opening set 6-4. He responded by breaking his opponent at deuce to take the second set 7-5 and force a deciding set. He would start the final set in command, building a 3-0 lead and then hold out to win the set and the match 6-3 and knot everything up at 3-3 overall.
Che would win a tight first set in a tiebreak 7-6 before a push back from his Spartan opponent. Dropping the second set 6-2, he would need to win the deciding set to send the team home with a win. Despite having numerous break chances throughout the match, it wouldn’t be until the 11th game of the final set before Che would get over the hump and secure a break. In an attempt to serve out the victory, he would get behind 15-40 and have to battle to win three straight points and win on a deuce point to claim the 4-3 win and his first clinching moment of his career.
Up Next:
ACC play starts on Friday as the Irish host North Carolina on Friday at 4pm and then Duke on Sunday at 12pm. Following the Duke match, Notre Dame will host Northern Kentucky at 5pm to make it a Sunday double header.
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#37 Notre Dame 4 – Michigan State 3
Doubles
- #29 Baris/Sheldon(MSU) def. #47 Dominko/Fu(ND) 6-3
- Che/Malkowski(ND) def. Baylis/Lair(MSU) 6-3
- Lee/Zhang(ND) def. Crocker/Pero(ND) 6-3
Order of Finish(1, 3, 2)
Singles
- #52 Baris(MSU) def. #38 Dominko(ND) 6-4, 6-2
- Sheldon(MSU) def. Malkowski(ND) 6-4, 6-1
- Che(ND) def. Pero(MSU) 7-6, 2-6, 7-5
- Fu(ND) def. Baylis(MSU) 6-4, 6-2
- Lair(MSU) def. Vashistha(ND) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
- Zhang(ND) def. Saye(MSU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
Order of Finish(2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 3)