Irish Conclude Trip with 4-0 win at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. – After spending the spring break week in Virginia, the Notre Dame men’s tennis team will return home with a recent 4-0 victory Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Senior Axel Nefve led the way with a pair of ranked wins in doubles to start and singles end the contest. He and doubles partner Matthew Che took out top-10 doubles team of Jordan Chrysostom and Ryan Fishback who are ranked #9 in the country. The Irish pair would jump out to a quick 4-0 lead before wrapping up the set 6-2. Shortly after, the #2 team of Matthew Halpin and Peter Conklin would secure the point with a 6-3 win.

The Irish would take the first game on every court to start the singles portion of play and ultimately win 5 of 6 first sets. Jean-Marc Malkowski came out hot and put up a 6-0 first set score before completing the match 6-4 to give Notre Dame a quick second point on the scoreboard. Addy Vashistha was not far behind shaking hands as he defeated his opponent 6-3, 6-2. Then it was a battle to see which court would finish first and end the conference contest. Connor Fu and Peter Conklin would each fins themselves up a set and at match point in their respective matches but when they didn’t capitalize right away, top player Nefve finished off Fishback 7-5, 7-5 to get the need fourth point and the overall team win. His pair of ranked wins would bookend the day and give him  9-3 singles record in spring play.

The win today puts the Irish at 3-1 in the ACC and 12-5 overall.

Up Next:

Notre Dame returns home for three matches next week as they will host ACC foes Florida State and Miami in addition to Eastern Illinois. The Irish will host the Seminoles on Friday the 18th at 4 p.m. On Sunday the 20th, the Hurricanes will come in for a noon contest before the Eastern Illinois Panthers play at 5 p.m. in the second match of the double header.

Box Score

#21 Notre Dame 4 – Virginia Tech 0

Doubles

1. #42 Che/Nefve(ND) def. #9 Chrysostom/Fishback 6-2(VT)
2. Conklin/Halpin(ND) def. Ariza/Sculley(VT) 6-3
3. Fu/Malkowski(ND) vs. Donato/Orso 5-4 Did Not Finish

Singles

1. #44 Nefve(ND) def. #103 Ryan Fishback(VT) 7-5, 7-5
2. Vashistha(ND) def. Maia(VT) 6-3, 6-2
3. Che(ND) vs. Ariza(VT) 3-6, 5-6 Did Not Finish
4. Fu(ND) vs. Shepheard(VT) 7-6, 5-3 Did Not Finish
5. Conklin(ND) vs. Donato(VT) 6-3, 5-6 Did Not Finish
6. Malkowski(ND) def. Orso(VT) 6-0, 6-4

Order of finish: Doubles(1, 2); Singles (2, 6, 1)