EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Notre Dame men’s tennis duo of Matt Che and Aditya Vashistha will return to campus on Sunday as champions of the Drobac/Beeman Invitational, which was hosted by Michigan State. The Irish twosome won the mini-dual event after defeating teams from Marquette, Louisville, Illinois and Indiana.
Che and Vashistha went 4-0 in doubles and a combined 7-1 in singles to defeat each team they faced. Che finished off the weekend with an unblemished record in singles, going 4-0 as well. Che saved a match point in the doubles semifinals before defeating their Illini opponent and sending himself and Vashistha to the championship match. There, they went on to sweep the three contests against the Hoosiers who took out the other ND team of Malkowski and Conklin.
Jean-Marc Malkowski and Peter Conklin finished the event in 4th place out of the 16 teams competing. They won their opening rounds with a win over top-seeded Illinois before defeating Western Michigan in the quarterfinals. They would lose in the semifinals to the team from Indiana before falling to a different Illinois team in the 3rd/4th place matchup, but not without two 3-set battles in the singles portion of the match.
Next up, senior Axel Nefve will head to Tulsa to compete in the Main Draw of the ITA All-American Championships, which begins Wednesday. Next weekend, six Notre Dame players will head north again to the Vredevelt Invitational hosted by Western Michigan University.
Round of 16
Vashistha/Che (ND) def Krstulovic/Brady(MU) 6-2
Vashistha(ND) def Krstulovic(MU) 6-0, 6-3
Che(ND) def Brady(MU) 7-6, 6-0
Heck/Horve (ILL) def Malkowski/Conklin (ND) 6-3
Malkowski (ND) def Heck (ILL) 6-3, 6-1
Conklin (ND) def. Horve (ILL) 7-6 (3), 2-6, 1-0(5)
Quarterfinals
Vashistha/Che (ND) def Mizrahi/Tang (UL) 7-5
Vashistha(ND) def Mizrahi(UL) 6-4, 6-1
Che (ND) def Tang (UL) 6-3, 6-4
Malkowski/Conklin(ND) def George/Caballer(WMU) 6-2
Malkowski(ND) def George(WMU) 6-2, 7-5
Conklin(ND) def Caballer(WMU) 1-6, 6-1, 1-0(10)
Semifinals
Vahastha/Che(ND) def Petrov/Guzauskas(ILL) 6-2
Petrov(ILL) def Vashistha(ND) 7-6 (4), 3-6, 1-0(4)
Che(ND) def Guzauskas(ILL) 6-1, 2-6, 1-0(10)
Andre/Tiraspolsky(IU) def MalkowskiConklin(ND) 6-3
Tiraspolsky(IU) def Conklin(ND) 6-2, 3-6, 1-0(9)
Andre(IU) def Malkowsky(ND) 6-2, 6-0
Championship Match
Vashistha/Che(ND) def Andre/Tiraspolsky(IU) 6-4
Vashistha(ND) def Andre(IU) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(4)
Che(ND) def Tiraspolsky(IU) 6-2, 6-2
3rd/4th Match
Petrov/Guzauskas (ILL) def Malkowsky/Conklin(ND) 6-2
Petrov(ILL) def. Malkowski(ND) 1-6, 6-4, 1-0(8)
Guzauskas(ILL) def. Conklin 6-7, 6-3, 1-0(10)