Irish Split Weekend Matches at Home

NOTRE DAME, Indiana — The Notre Dame Men’s Tennis team split its weekend matches at the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Saturday and Sunday, earning a win over Western Michigan and falling in a nailbiter to Middle Tennessee.

On Saturday evening at the Eck, the Irish dropped the doubles point to begin the match before rebounding with five singles victories over Western Michigan. Axel Nefve, Richard Ciamarra, Matthew Che, and Connor Fu all earned singles wins before Jean-Marc Malkowski secured the 5-2 win for the Irish behind his 6-3, 7-5 win over Arjun Honnappa.

Sunday, Notre Dame secured the doubles point to jump out to the 1-0 lead over Middle Tennessee. In singles action, Richard Ciamarra and Axel Nefve earned victories to add to the Irish tally. The match came down to a hard-fought battle on court three between Francisco Rocha and Matthew Che. Che earned the first-set victory, 6-4, before falling in a nail-biting loss to Rocha.

Notre Dame Men’s Tennis 5, Western Michigan Men’s 2 

Singles competition 

1. Axel Nefve (NDMTEN) def. Jannik Opitz (WMU) 6-3, 6-3 
2. Richard Ciamarra (NDMTEN) def. Peter Kuszynski (WMU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 
3. Matthew Che (NDMTEN) def. Jackson Boone (WMU) 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 
4. Connor Fu (NDMTEN) def. Fynn Lohse (WMU) 6-4, 6-3 
5. Jean-Marc Malkowski (NDMTEN) def. Arjun Honnappa (WMU) 6-3, 7-5 
6. Brogan Pierce (WMU) def. Andrew Mariados (NDMTEN) 6-7, 6-2, 1-0 

Doubles competition 

1. Richard Ciamarra/Axel Nefve (NDMTEN) def. Arjun Honnappa/Fynn Lohse (WMU) 6-2 
2. Jannik Opitz/Zac Faveri (WMU) def. Matt Gamble/William Howells (NDMTEN) 6-3 
3. Peter Kuszynski/Joaquin Caballer (WMU) def. Matthew Che/Jean-Marc Malkowski (NDMTEN) 6-4

Middle Tennessee 4, Notre Dame Men’s Tennis 3 

Singles competition 

1. Richard Ciamarra (NDMTEN) def. Tom Moonen (MTSU) 6-2, 7-6 
2. Axel Nefve (NDMTEN) def. Stijn Slump (MTSU) 7-5, 7-6 
3. Francisco Rocha (MTSU) def. Matthew Che (NDMTEN) 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 
4. Chris Edge (MTSU) def. Connor Fu (NDMTEN) 6-3, 7-6 
5. Pavel Motl (MTSU) def. Jean-Marc Malkowski (NDMTEN) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 
6. Max Rauch (MTSU) def. Matthew Halpin (NDMTEN) 6-1, 6-1 

Doubles competition 

1. Richard Ciamarra/Axel Nefve (NDMTEN) def. Stijn Slump/Pavel Motl (MTSU) 6-2 
2. Chris Edge/Tom Moonen (MTSU) def. William Howells/Matt Gamble (NDMTEN) 6-3 
3. Jean-Marc Malkowski/Matthew Che (NDMTEN) def. Max Rauch/Francisco Rocha (MTSU) 6-3

Next Up
The Irish will begin conference play when they travel to Wake Forest on Friday, February 19. The match will begin at 5 p.m. ET.

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