Feb. 14, 2014
HOUSTON, Texas — The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team fell to No. 1 Virginia in the first round of the ITA National Indoor Championships earlier today. The Irish lost 4-2, moving their record to 7-2 on the season.
“This is another great match–our team was really competitive and it was close,” said head coach Ryan Sachire. “Virginia is a very good team. Our guys played well today. They competed with confidence. We have a lot to be proud of in terms of how we competed. We can probably improve on a couple things execution wise tomorrow when we’ll have another great match.”
Virginia has won five of the last six National Indoor Championships, and is 5-0 on the season. Before the Irish claimed two today, the Cavaliers had not dropped even a point to an opponent during the spring season.
Notre Dame actually went up ahead of the Cavaliers when senior Billy Pecor and sophomore Josh Hagar won their match at No. 2 doubles, 6-4, and then senior Greg Andrews and sophomore Alex Lawson battled in a tiebreak at No. 1 to win it, 6-5(3).
The Irish had a tougher time in singles, where everyone dropped their first set to a Virginia opponent except for sophomore Quentin Monaghan. Monaghan would go on to lose his match at No. 2 singles, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Hagar came back after a first set loss at No. 4 singles to beat opponent 61st-ranked Mac Styslinger, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Notre Dame will play either California or Mississippi State tomorrow. Results will be posted here at UND.com.
–Lauren Chval, Media Relations Assistant
–ND–