COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Notre Dame men’s tennis team fell at the hands of 27th-ranked Columbia 4-2 in the first round of the NCAA championships this afternoon at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center.
After dropping the first doubles match of the day at No. 3, the Fighting Irish would tie it up with a 6-4 win by Matthew Halpin and Jean-Marc Malkowski at No. 2 doubles. Back at the top of the lineup, the duo of Matthew Che and Axel Nefve would win a tightly contested 7-5 set with then lone break of serve to seal the 1-0 lead for the Irish.
In singles, Notre Dame would win the first sets at the bottom three spots quickly. Columbia responded by winning the first sets at the top three spots. However, winning the first set meant anything but a routine win, as on five of the six courts, the player who lost the opener would respond to win the second and force a deciding third set. The Lions picked up the lone straight set match at No. 2 singles as Hugo Hashimoto defeated graduate student Aditya Vashistha 7-6, 6-2 to tie the match overall.
Columbia would take their first lead of the day when Connor Fu dropped his match 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 to Henry Ruger. But the match would again be leveled as Che came back from losing the opening set 2-6 to win a pair of 6-4 sets. Che defeated a Columbia freshman in Max Westphal who had a career high ranking of #24 in the world before coming to college.
The final two points would go the way of the Lions as Malkowski at No. 5 singles and Peter Conklin at No. 6 singles fell 6-4 in their respective final sets and give Columbia the 4-2 win. The top court of ranked players would remain unfinished as #57 Nefve and #22 Kotzen were knotted at 5-5 in the third when play was abandoned.
Up Next:
Nefve will represent the Irish in the NCAA singles individual tournament after being selected based on his national ranking of #57. This is the second-straight year Nefve will be participating after playing in both the singles and doubles tournaments last year, advancing to the second round in both. This marks the 17th-straight year Notre Dame has a player participating in either of the individual NCAA championships. Nefve will begin play on May 23rd at host site University of Illinois in Champaign.
Box Score
#27 Columbia 4 – #33 Notre Dame 2
Doubles
- Che/Nefve(ND) def. Ruger/Winegar(CU) 7-5
- Halpin/Malkowski(ND) def. Tabet/Westphal(CU) 6-4
- Horvat/Kotzen(CU) def. Conklin/Fu(ND) 6-4
Singles
- #57 Nefve(ND) vs. Kotzen(CU) 3-6, 6-4, 5-5 Did Not Finish
- Hashimoto(CU) def. #119 Vashistha(ND) 7-6(2), 6-2
- Che(ND) def. Westphal(CU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Ruger(CU) def. Fu(ND) 3-6, 6-0, 6-1
- Huang(CU) def. Malkowski(ND) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Horvat(CU) def. Conklin(ND) 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles(3, 2, 1); Singles (2, 4, 3, 5, 6)