SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Less than a week after they played to end the regular season, the University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team met again in the second round of the ACC Championships played at the Cary Tennis Park in North Carolina. But while the match was closer and would come down to the final match, the outcome would again go the way of the #36 ranked Cardinals.
The Fighting Irish came out firing in doubles and got a pair of 6-2 wins at the top two spots. Connor Fu and Jean-Marc Malkowski got down 0-1, 15-40 on Fu’s serve before digging out a hold. From there, they would lose just one more game en route to a win at the #1 position. At #2, Sebastian Dominko and Matt Halpin, who won a the same position last week against Louisville, repeated a winning performance and clinched the doubles point to give the Irish the lead heading in to singles.
After Louisville would tie up the contest with a quick win at #6 singles, Dominko, who checks in this week at #14 in the country in the ITA singles rankings, dispatched his #79 ranked opponent 6-4 6-2 to reclaim the lead 2-1. This was Dominko’s first singles match since Boston College almost three weeks ago. The next point would go to the team from Kentucky with a win at #2 singles but the senior Fu would put his team back in the lead with a 6-3, 6-4 win at #4 singles to put the Irish within one of the victory.
Needing just one more match, all focus would turn to #4 and #6 singles who were battling next to each other. Both Malkowski and Yu Zhang dropped the opening set and would need to flip the match to extend their contest. Malkowski would push his opponent to a second set tiebreak just as he did last week but ultimately fall in a tiebreak to knot up the match one last time at 3-3. Zhang, who came through as the last match clincher earlier this year against Western Michigan, couldn’t come through this time as he lost in straight sets giving Louisville the 4-3 win.
Up Next:
Freshman phenom Sebastian Dominko will participate in the NCAA Individual Singles tournament beginning May 20th at the USTA National Center in Lake Nona, Florida. He and doubles partner Connor Fu are ranked #25 in the country with a chance to qualify for the NCAA Doubles tournament as well. Selections will be made after the conclusion of all conference tournaments next weekend.
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#58 Notre Dame 3 – #36 Louisville 4
Doubles
- Fu/Malkowski(ND) def. Donnet/Wesbrooks(UL) 6-2
- Halpin/Dominko(ND) def. Salle/Mizrahi/(UL) 6-2
- Lee/Zhang(ND) vs. Hernandez/Rodriques(UL) 4-4 DNF
Order of Finish(1, 2)
Singles
- #14 Dominko(ND) #79 Rodrigues(UL) 6-4, 6-2
- #34 Donnet(UL) def. Che(ND) 6-2, 6-2
- #61 Salle(UL) def. Malkowski(ND) 6-2, 7-6(4)
- Fu(ND) def. Hernandez(UL) 6-3, 6-4
- Steinbach(UL) def. Zhang(ND) 6-4, 6-2
- Mizrahi(UL) def. Corsillo(ND) vs. 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish(6, 1, 2, 4, 3, 5)