Irish Win Two More; End Weekend 3-0

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – With a second ACC foe in South Bend for the weekend, the Irish would again walk away victorious to push their record to 2-0 in conference play. Notre Dame would beat Clemson in the first match of the Sunday double header by a score of 4-1.

Notre Dame continued their strong play on the doubles courts at all three spots with the #3 duo of Malkowski and Fu being the first ones to shake hands with a 6-4 victory. After that, top pairing Nefve and Che would win 6-3 against the #22 ranked team in the country to seal the early lead for the Irish.

In singles, Notre Dame would carry over momentum from doubles and win five first sets. Peter Conklin cruised through his match commanding a 6-1, 6-4 win at the #5 position. Axel Nefve capped off his perfect weekend of play with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Azuma, giving him a 4-0 record on the weekend. Connor Fu clinched the conference victory with a 6-3, 6-4 win at the #4 position. The remaining matches would be abandoned with Matt Che a few points away from a win and Addy Vashistha beginning a third set.

In the second match of a double header day, the men’s team defeated the Fordham Rams in their first ever meeting in the history of the programs. Fu and Malkowski would pick up their second doubles win of the day with a quick 6-2 win over the #2 team. Then Matt Halpin and partner Peter Conklin would save a match point and storm back to win 5 straight games to clinch the point 7-5. The remaining doubles match was beginning a tiebreak when play would be abandoned and the Irish would take a 1-0 lead into singles.

As competitive as a couple doubles positions were, the Irish rolled in singles claiming dominant wins at the top three positions, only dropping 6 total games between them, to defeat the Rams 4-0. Remaining matches for Bilsey, Corsillo and Ho would not finish but all Irish players had captured the first sets in their respective contests.

Up Next:

Conference play continues and the Irish hit the road where they will take on #18 Virginia on Friday, March 11th in Charlottesville. On Sunday, March 13th the men will head a bit further west to take on Virginia Tech before returning to campus to end their spring break.

Box Score – Match 1

#32 Notre Dame 4 – #48 Clemson 1

Doubles

1. Che/Nefve(ND) def. #22 Azuma/Giusca(CLEM) 6-3
2. Conklin/Halpin(ND) vs. Whitaker/Smith(CLEM) 5-4 Did Not Finish
3. Fu/Malkowski(ND) def. M. Pitts/Labrador(CLEM) 6-4

Singles

1. #95 Nefve(ND) def. Azuma(CLEM) 7-5, 6-2
2. Vashistha(ND) vs. Giusca(CLEM) 6-3, 1-6 Did Not Finish
3. Che(ND) vs. Whitaker(CLEM) 6-4, 6-5 Did Not Finish
4. Fu(ND) def. M. Pitts(CLEM) 6-3, 6-4
5. Conklin(ND) def. Labrador(CLEM) 6-1, 6-4
6. Smith(CLEM) def. Bilsey(ND) 6-3, 6-4

Order of finish: Doubles(3, 1); Singles (5, 6, 4, 1)

Box Score – Match 2

#32 Notre Dame 4 – Fordham 0

Doubles

1. Conklin/Halpin(ND) def. Paredes/Kanazirev(FORD) 7-5
2. Fu/Malkowski(ND) def. Kobayashi/Segarra(FORD) 6-2
3. Corsillo/Bilsey(ND) vs. Russwurm/Soemarno 6-6 Did Not Finish

Singles

1. Vashistha(ND) def. Russwurm(FORD) 6-2, 6-0
2. Malkowski(ND) def. Paredes(FORD)6-1, 6-2
3. Conklin(ND) def. Kanazirev(FORD) 6-1, 6-0
4. Bilsey(ND) vs. Soemarno(FORD) 6-3, 3-0 Did Not Finish
5. Corsillo(ND) vs. Kobayashi(FORD) 6-4 Did Not Finish
6. Ho(ND) vs. Segarra(FORD) 6-2, 5-1 Did Not Finish

Order of finish: Doubles(2, 1); Singles (1, 2, 3)