NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s tennis team completed the first weekend of competition in Louisville today highlighted by an unblemished doubles record. The Irish won both the A & B doubles flights with their respective pairs going 3-0 on the weekend. Friday, the Irish came out of the gate as well as you can winning all 10 matches play, 4 doubles contests and each player won their respective singles match.
The first two rounds of doubles were played on Friday to begin the tournament with the championship match played Sunday morning. In the doubles A flight, Senior Brian Bilsey and Junior Noah Becker would win their opening round match 8-2 over Eastern Kentucky before defeating the duo from Illinois 8-5 to advance to the finals. In the final match, both teams would hold serve the first 6 times out before trading breaks to force a tiebreak. In the tiebreak, the veteran Irish team would jump out to a 5-1 lead at the first change of ends. Shortly after, they would secure the 8-7(3) win and claim the tournament.
In the B flight, sophomore Jayanth Devaiah and freshman Luis Llorens went 3-0 in their debut together and claimed the tournament win. In the opening match they snuck through in a tiebreak win 8-7 over Memphis before beating Belmont in the semifinal match 8-6. A slow start in the championship match meant the Irish pair had to come back from a 1-4 deficit but would complete the comeback and take the title with an 8-6 weekend.
In singles, freshman Luis Llorens capped off his first collegiate weekend with a 4-0 record in singles as well, claiming the C flight singles title. He won all his matches in straight sets and ultimately went a combined 7-0 in singles and doubles.
Devaiah also found himself playing in the title match of his B singles bracket but would drop the final contest. His singles record this weekend was 3-1 with wins over Kentucky, Memphis and a 2nd round victory over Louisville in which he would save 2 match points during the 17-15 third set tiebreak victory.
Everyone saw success on the singles court in total as no one went below .500 in their individual record. Corsillo, Becker, Bilsey and Magimay all went 2-2 on the weekend with collected wins over Eastern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, Louisville, Bellarmine, Belmont and Memphis. Magimay punctuated the weekend as the last match to finish and did so with a 17-15 third set victory in which he saved 2 match points en route to the win. In total, the Irish went 6-2 in matches that split sets and went to deciding tiebreaks.
Next Up:
Four Notre Dame players will travel to Boston next weekend to compete in Chowderfest hosted by Harvard University. The tournament will take place over three days from September 20th-22nd.
Also beginning next weekend will be the Pre-Qualifying draw of the ITA all-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Chase Thompson and Yu Zhang will represent the Irish and look to advance. Sebastian Dominko is already into the main draw by virtue of his #13 ranking in the country and will compete when main draw play beings.
Friday
1st Round Doubles
Becker/Bilsey(ND) def. Bulnes/Martin(EKU) 8-2
Devaiah/Llorens(ND) def. Kouame/Ferraz(MEM) 8-7(4)
2nd Round Doubles
Becker/Bilsey(ND) def. Guzauskas/Viala(ILL) 8-5
Devaiah/Llorens(ND) def. Robin/Von Hellens(BEL) 8-6
1st Round Singles
Magimay(ND) def. Pinheiro(EKU) 3-6, 6-1, 1-0(5)
Corsillo(ND) def. Kolevski(EKU) 6-2, 6-2
Bilsey(ND) def. Gillespie(USI) 6-4, 6-2
Devaiah(ND) def. Crivei(UK) 7-6(3), 4-6, 1-0(4)
Becker(ND) def. Navarro(EKU) 6-2, 6-3
Llorens(ND) def. Koon(USI) 6-1, 6-0
Saturday
2nd Round Singles
Corsillo(ND) def. Pena(UL) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0(6)
Breysach*UK) def. Magimay(ND) 6-3, 6-3
Reeve(MEM) def. Bilsey(ND) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(5)
Devaiah(ND) def. Nakanishi(UL) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0(15)
Ferraz(MEM) def. Becker(ND) 3-6, 6-4, 1-0(5)
Llorens(ND) def. Martin(EKU) 6-3, 6-1
3rd Round Singles
Kouame(MEM) def. Magimay(ND) 6-3, 6-3
Guzauskas(ILL) def. Corsillo(ND) 7-5, 6-2
Devaiah(ND) def. Reeve(MEM) 6-1, 2-6, 1-0(7)
Becker(ND) def. Nice(BELL) 6-2, 6-2
Nakanishi(UL) def. Bilsey(ND) 6-4, 6-3
Llorens(ND) def. Von Hellens(BELM) 6-2, 6-2
Sunday
Doubles Finals
Becker/Bilsey(ND) def. Batchel/Nice(BELL) 8-7(3)
Devaiah/Llorens(ND) vs. Avendano/Nakanishi(UL) 8-6
4th Round Singles
Llorens(ND) def. Robin(BELM) 6-4, 6-2
Bilsey(ND) def. Nice(BELL) 7-5, 6-4
Steveker(UL) def. Corsillo(ND) 7-6(3), 1-0 ret.
Avendano(UL) def. Devaiah(ND) 6-4, 6-3
Magimay(ND) def. Pena(UL) 6-2, 6-7, 1-0(15)
Nakanishi(UL) def. Becker(ND) 7-5, 7-6(1)