Sept. 19, 2015
Oracle/ITA Masters – Live Scoring
Oracle/ITA Masters – Singles Draw
Oracle/ITA Masters – Doubles Draw
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team completed Day One of its three-tournament opening weekend on Friday with strong doubles play highlighting the day for the Fighting Irish on both coasts.
At the Oracle/ITA Masters in Malibu, California, the 28th-ranked duo of seniors Alex Lawson and Quentin Monaghan scored a major upset, defeating the nation’s fourth-ranked team in LSU’s Boris Arias and Jordan Dangle, 6-4, 3-6, 11-9. It was a matchup familiar to Lawson, who – with former teammate Billy Pecor (’15) – faced the Tiger tandem in the Round of 16 of last season’s NCAA Doubles Championship. The Irish duo dropped an impossibly close 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6), 5-7 decision in that matchup.
Lawson and Monaghan will move on to face Pepperdine’s Guilherme Hadlich and Gabriel Sidney in Saturday’s semifinal at 9:30 p.m. ET.
On the singles side, a fifth-ranked Monaghan squared off with No. 21 Or Ram-Harel of Tulsa in first-round action. Monaghan battled for three sets, but was upset 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(1). He will face second-ranked Ryan Shane (UVA) in the consolation draw on Saturday. Shane, the reigning NCAA singles champion, fell to No. 18 Felipe Soares (Texas Tech) in three sets.
Across the country, a quartet of Irish players competed at the Duke James Bonk Invitational. Junior Eddy Covalschi and sophomore Brendon Kempin both scored wins in the first round of the singles White Draw to move on to Saturday’s quarterfinals. Covalschi defeated North Carolina’s Chad Hoskins, 6-3, 7-5, while Kempin dropped Old Dominion’s Aziz Kijametovic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
The Irish also scored a pair of wins in doubles play, with freshman Nathan Griffin and Kempin defeating Wake Forest’s Sam Bloom and Anthony Declare 8-6 in the Blue Draw quarterfinals, while Covalschi and senior Kenneth Sabacinski defeated Radford’s Michiel Meekers and Jose Moreno Manzano 8-4 in the first round of the White Draw. Both pairs will play for third place in their respective draws Saturday after each falling in their semifinal matchups.
The rest of the Irish contingent competed at the Ivy Plus Invitational in Princeton, New Jersey, on Friday, but results were not immediately available.
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Joanne Norell, Athletics Communications Assistant
-ND-
Oracle/ITA Masters
Malibu Racquet Club
Malibu, California
Singles Draw
Friday
First Round
No. 21 Or Ram-Harel (Tulsa) def. No. 5 Quentin Monaghan (ND), 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(1)
Saturday
Consolation Draw
No. 5 Quentin Monaghan (ND) v. No. 2 Ryan Shane (UVA)
Doubles Draw
Friday
First Round
No. 28 Alex Lawson / Quentin Monaghan (ND) def. No. 4 Boris Arias / Jordan Daigle (LSU), 6-4, 3-6, 11-9
Saturday
Semifinal
No. 28 Alex Lawson / Quentin Monaghan (ND) v. Guilherme Hadlich / Gabriel Sidney (Pepperdine)
Duke James Bonk Invitational
Cary Tennis Center
Cary, North Carolina
Singles Draw
Friday
White Draw Round of 16
Brendon Kempin (ND) def. Aziz Kijametovic (ODU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Eddy Covalschi (ND) def. Chad Hoskins (UNC), 6-3, 7-5
Black Draw Round of 16
Anudeep Kodali (UNC) def. Kenneth Sabacinski (ND), 7-5, 6-2
Blue Draw Round of 16
Robert Kelly (UNC) def. Nathan Griffin (ND), 7-2, 7-5
Doubles Draw
Friday
Blue Draw Quarterfinals
Nathan Griffin / Brendon Kempin (ND) def. S. Bloom / A. Delcore (WF), 8-6
Blue Draw Semifinals
B. Boyden / A. Kodali (UNC) def. Nathan Griffin / Brendon Kempin (ND),
White Draw Quarterfinals
Eddy Covalschi / Kenneth Sabacinski (ND) def. M. Meekers, J.M. Manzano (Radford), 8-4
White Draw Semifinals
V. Lin / A. Chamdani (Duke) def. Eddy Covalschi / Kenneth Sabacinski (ND), 8-5