The men’s tennis team concluded their spring break week with a pair of matches against top-15 ranked teams in #9 Stanford and #15 California in the Golden State. Both matches were strongly contested with the Irish claiming the doubles point to start both duals. However, the home teams would respond to win overall by 4-1 and 4-3 scores respectively.
Doubles continues to be a strong point in the Irish lineup as they have won 14 of the 18 doubles points this season. Four of those team points have come against to-25 ranked teams in the country while playing on the road(#9 Stanford, #15 California, # 20 Illinois, #23 Clemson ). Sebastian Dominko leads the team in doubles wins with a 14-2 overall record, having played with 6 different partners at all spots in the lineup. He has secured a win with each of his Irish teammates. Peter Nad is right behind with 13 victories and Chase Thompson sits with an 8-3 record. Noah Becker is 5-1 overall and Luis Llorens is 5-0 in completed matches with another 5 unfinished as his teammates clinched the doubles point. Senior duo Jamie Corsillo and Yu Zhang have posted wins against ranked doubles teams including most recently against the #7 ranked Stanford team. This is their second top-40 ranked win as a duo on the year.
Against Stanford, Dominko was leading the #16 ranked player in the country 3-2 in the third set when play was stopped. On Sunday, the junior lefty found himself down 6-3, 5-2 against the #49 player in the country from California before he fought his way back to even the match. In the third set at 4-4, his hobbled opponent retired with the Irish junior one point from breaking serve and have the racket on his string to serve out. Dominko continues to impress on the singles court as he undefeated in his last 8 matches including all 6 ACC matches to start conference play. The only match that was not completed was Stanford this weekend. He moves to 13-2 in singles this spring with all his matches coming at the top of the lineup.
Thompson is 10-2 on the season after splitting his matches this weekend. Coming off of an injury and missing the previous 3 matches, the Irish sophomore lost a tough 6-4 6-4 match against Stanford before dismissing his opponent in straight sets at Berkeley. Peter Nad split sets on Sunday in a close three-setter match while Luis Llorens at #6 singles played two close sets with a chance for a third that just slipped away in a tiebreak in the second.
Up Next:
Notre Dame will return home to the Eck Tennis Pavilion next weekend with a trio of matches including two top-5 ranked ACC teams. Wake Forest comes into the Friday match as the #1 ranked team in the country and undefeated on the year. North Carolina State is ranked #5 and the match with the Wolfpack will take place Sunday the 23rd at noon. The Irish will round out the weekend with a 5pm match against St. Bonaventure.
Friday Box Score
#55 Notre Dame 1 #9 Stanford 4
Doubles
Dominko/Thompson(ND) def. Basing/Godsick(STAN) 6-3
Corsillo/Zhang(ND) def. #37 Banerjee/Razeghi(STAN) 6-2
Nad/Llorens(ND) vs. Barki/Kang(STAN) 5-4 DNF
Order of Finish(2, 1)
Singles
#34 Dominko(ND) vs. #16 Banerjee(STAN) 6-3, 1-6, 3-2 DNF
#71 Basing(STAN) def. Zhang(ND) 6-4, 6-1
Kang(STAN) def. Thompson(ND) 6-4, 6-4
Nad(ND) vs. Rivera(STAN) 6-7(13), 0-4 DNF
Razeghi(STAN) def. Corsillo(ND) 6-2, 6-4
Godsick(STAN) def. Magimay(ND) 6-2, 6-1
Order of Finish (6, 2, 5, 3)
Sunday Box Score
#55 Notre Dame 3 #15 California 4
Doubles
Dominko/Thompson(ND) def. Chang/Overbeck(CAL) 7-5
Chen/Dean(CAL) def. Corsillo/Zhang(ND) 6-3
Nad/Llorens(ND) def. Lechno/Wasiutynski/Wright(CAL) 6-3
Order of Finish(3, 2, 1)
Singles
#34 Dominko(ND) def. #49 Chang(CAL) 3-6, 7-5, 4-4 ret(inj.)
#36 Dean(CAL) def. Zhang(ND) 6-1, 6-1
Thompson(ND) def. Stepanov(CAL) 7-6(4), 6-4
Chen(CAL) def. Nad(ND) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Lechno-Wasiutynski(CAL) def. Corsillo(ND) 6-1, 6-2
Mesa(CAL) def. Llorens(ND) 6-4, 7-6(7)
Order of Finish (2, 5, 3, 6, 2, 1)