May 23, 2018
By Joanne Norell
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – University of Notre Dame men’s tennis junior Alex Lebedev saw his season end Wednesday, falling to No. 75 Henry Patten of UNC-Asheville in three sets in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
How It Happened
The 34th-ranked Lebedev and Patten traded the first five games before Lebedev snatched a break to go up 4-3 in the first set. The two held for the rest of the stanza, giving the Irish junior a 6-4 lead.
The second set began similarly and stood at a 3-3 tie halfway through the set. Patten then held to go up 4-3 before breaking Lebedev en route to a 6-3 win to tie the match.
Lebedev won the first game of the third set before Patten ripped off three straight to take a 3-1 lead. The early break was enough for Patten to hold onto and come away with the 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
The appearance by Lebedev marked the 13th straight by an Irish student-athlete in the individual player championships. It capped a season marked by a win in the 2017 ITA National Summer Championship and Round of 16 appearances in the ITA All-American Championships and ITA National Fall Championships.
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championships
Wake Forest Tennis Complex
Winston-Salem, N.C.
May 23, 2018
Round of 64
No. 75 Henry Patten (UNCA) def. No. 34 Alex Lebedev (ND) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
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Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame men’s tennis and fencing programs, in addition to assisting with football communications and overseeing production of the football Gameday Magazine. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.