Feb. 22, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Tennis was an all-day affair at the Eck Tennis Pavilion this Saturday. After an exhilaratingly close first match this afternoon to No. 1 Ohio State, the University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team was featured on ESPN3 as they took on Ball State this event. The Irish took down the Cardinals without dropping a point, 4-0.
“The coverage was awesome,” said head coach Ryan Sachire. “As a tennis player, you grow up and there aren’t too many TV experiences for you. Let alone on ESPN3. But for our guys to be able to participate in an event like tonight was really an honor and humbling, and I know they enjoyed themselves a lot.”
The match followed a special format set up especially for the USTA’s College MatchDay. Instead of playing doubles first, the Irish started with singles matches (doubles would have only been played if the singles matches went to a 3-3 tie).
First off the court was junior Wyatt McCoy, who defeated Andrew Stutz at No. 5, 6-0, 6-3. Sophomore Alex Lawson was just behind him with another quick victory at No. 6, taking down Patrick Downs after only dropping a single game, 6-0, 6-1.
Senior captain Greg Andrews won his watch at No. 1 against Ray Leonard, 6-2, 6-2. The match was clinched for No. 10 Notre Dame by freshman Josh Hagar, who beat Austin Smith, 6-3, 6-3. Hagar was actually down 3-0 in the second set, but came back to win six games in a row.
“We did a good job tonight,” said Sachire. “Ball State is a great team, always in contention to win a MAC title, and our guys knew that. They knew that they had to play well and they started off great. We won five out of six first sets, so we took command of the match early and we finished well from that.”
Next on the schedule for Notre Dame is the ACC opener. The men will face off against Virginia Tech at home next Friday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.
–Lauren Chval, Media Relations Assistant
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