Irish Win Two on Senior Day

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s tennis team celebrated senior day with a pair of wins at home including their first win in conference play with a 4-0 sweep of #73 Virginia Tech on Sunday. The Irish started in the most dominating way possible with a 6-0 win at #1 doubles by Sebastian Dominko and Chase Thompson. Then Peter Nad and Luis Llorens clinched the point with a 6-3 win at #3 doubles. The senior duo of Jamie Corsillo and Yu Zhang were 2 points away from winning their doubles court as well when the doubles was clinched.

In singles, momentum would start in favor of the home team with four first set wins. Kyran Magimay rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win on court #6. On the court next to him, Peter Nad served out his match 6-2, 6-3 less than 2 minutes later to push the Irish lead to 3-0. Chase Thompson needed a second opportunity to serve out the match after dropping serve at 5-2 in the second set but would regroup and hold to win the match with a 6-3, 6-4 victory, sealing the Notre Dame victory.

The remaining matches were abandoned with Sebastian Dominko and Yu Zhang in third sets at #1 and #2, respectively. Jamie Corsillo lost a tight first set 7-6 in a tiebreak but was leading 3-1 in the second when play was stopped.

The final match of the home dual season was Sunday evening against Southern Indiana. The Irish raced out to the doubles point victory with wins at #2 and #3 by matching 6-1 sets as Nad and Llorens and Jayanth Devaiah and Brian Bilsey won their respective courts.

In singles, quick wins by Llorens and Devaiah and #2 and #6 put the Irish within one and setup Magimay for the clinching match win 6-2, 6-1 at #4 singles. The remaining matches were played to completion and senior Brian Bilsey picked up the 6-2, 7-5 win at #4 singles followed shortly by a 7-5, 6-0 win by Noah Becker at #5. Senior Yu Zhang had to rebound after dropping the second set to win a match breaker at the top spot in the lineup and ranaway with a 10-2 win to finish his last match in the Eck Tennis Pavilion.

Friday Recap

The weekend began on Friday with another top-5 match as Virginia came to the South Bend. This was the third straight top-5 team Notre Dame played and the 6th straight top-15 team in ACC play.

Play began with a split of the doubles matches on courts 2 and 3 both by a 6-2 score. Peter Nad and Luis Llorens continued their hot streak with a win to even the match and put eyes on the top court. Sebastian Dominko and Chase Thompson got an early break in the set but the Cavalier duo pushed back late to tie it up. After both teams held a few more times, a tiebreak was needed to determine the winner. The pair of lefties for the home team separated just before the first change of ends and rode the momentum to win the breaker and win the doubles point.

Dominko was first off the court with a second point secured for Notre Dame. He handled the #21 ranked player in the country by a 6-4, 6-2 scoreline. Virginia would take the next three matches that finished with wins at #3, #6 and #5 in that order to take their first lead of the day 3-2 overall.

Yu Zhang, playing #2 singles, won the first set 6-4 and had match point up 5-3 in the second. When his opponent held serve, the senior from China had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4. But a run in favor of the visitor got the break and hold to lead in the second set. Zhang would serve again but this time to stay in the set and he was facing three set points at 5-6, 15-40. But the senior rattled off three points to hold and raced out to a huge lead in the breaker before capping off the win 7-2. Zhang has now won three straight singles matches.

The match came down to #5 singles where Peter Nad battled a fellow freshman who, like Nad, was a top-35 junior in the word. Nad would take the opening set 7-5 before the response from his opponent saw the match even at a set a piece. In the third, the Irish #5 had a few chances to break in multiple games early but could not convert. Both players held their serve, often facing adversity, but coming through for the first 10 total games of the set. Unfortunately, Nad would get broken at 5-all and Virginia held to clinch the match 4-3.

Up Next:

The men hit the road for a pair of conference matches in the Sunshine State next week. On Thursday, April 3rd the Irish will take on #27 Florida State in Tallahassee at 5:30pm. Then on Saturday, they will battle #25 Miami in Coral Gables with first serve set for noon.

Friday Box Score

#63 Notre Dame 3  #5 Virginia 4

Doubles

1. Dominko/Thompson(ND) def. Hopper/Dahlberg(UVA) 7-6(3)
2. Dietrich/Kim(UVA) def. Corsillo/Zhang(ND) 6-2
3. Llorens/Nad(ND) def. Switzerland/Rice(UVA) 6-2

Order of Finish (3, 2, 1)

Singles

1. #34 Dominko(ND) def. #21 Dietrich(UVA) 6-4, 6-2
2. Zhang(ND) def. Rice(UVA) 6-4, 7-6(2)
3. Hopper(UVA) def. Thompson(ND) 6-1, 6-3
4. Horovitz(UVA) def. Nad(ND) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
5. Kim(UVA) def. Corsillo(ND) 6-3, 7-5
6. Dahlberg(UVA) def. Magimay(ND) 6-3, 7-6(8)

Order of Finish (1, 3, 6, 4, 2, 5)

Sunday Box Score – Match 1

#63 Notre Dame 4   #73 Virginia Tech 0

Doubles

1. Dominko/Thompson(ND) def. #65 Harper/Orso(VT) 6-0
2. Corsillo/Zhang(ND) vs. Sculley/St. Hilaire(VT) 5-4 DNF
3. Llorens/Nad(ND) def. Fahim/Shumilov(VT) 6-3

Order of Finish (1, 3)

Singles

1. #34 Dominko(ND) vs. St. Hilaire(VT) 6-1, 3-6, 2-1 DNF
2. Zhang(ND) vs. Fahim(VT) 3-6, 6-1, 0-1 DNF
3. Thompson(ND) def. Sculley(VT) 6-3, 6-4
4. Corsillo(ND) vs. Jurina(VT) 6-7(4), 3-1 DNF
5. Nad(ND) def. Orso(VT) 6-2, 6-3
6. Magimay(ND) def. Kimpel 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish (6, 5, 3)

Sunday Box Score – Match 2

#63 Notre Dame 7  Southern Indiana 0

Doubles

1. Dominko/Becker(ND) vs. Hibbert/Sabourin(USI) 5-2 DNF
2. Llorens/Nad(ND) def. Gillespie/Michaeli(USI) 6-1
3. Bilsey/Devaiah(ND) def. Koon/Bove(USI) 6-1

Order of Finish (2, 3)

Singles

1. Zhang(ND) def. Bove(USI) 6-2, 5-7, 1-0(2)
2. Llorens(ND) def. Sabourin(USI) 6-2, 6-0
3. Magimay(ND) def. Michaeli(USI) 6-2, 6-1
4. Bilsey(ND) def. Hibbert(USI) 6-2, 7-5
5. Becker(ND) def. Gillespie(USI) 7-5, 6-0
6. Devaiah(ND) def. Koon(USI) 6-2, 6-0

Order of Finish (2, 6, 3, 4, 5, 1)