LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the first time under the sun this season, No. 13 Fighting Irish men’s tennis swept No. 46 Louisville Cardinals, 4-0, Sunday afternoon.
Clinching the doubles point in a tight third match, the men went on to claim three straight singles matches to remain undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference action.
The match was the team’s first of three road matchups over spring break. They will now travel to Florida for a few days of training before their duals with Miami (Friday, March 15) and Florida State (Sunday, March 17).
Doubles
William Howells and Axel Nefve dropped the first doubles match to their opponents in the No. 1 singles, 6-3 before their Irish teammates came back to claim the next two for the Irish point.
After dropping the first three games, Guillermo Cabrera and Tristan McCormick went on a 5-0 run to finish with a score of 6-4.
Both teams were searching for the doubles point as the third match entered a tie break at six-all. The Irish clinched the point as Grayson Broadus and Matt Gamble defeated their Cardinal foes, 7-6.
Singles
The two teams split a series of first sets with Howells finishing first with a score of 6-1. Axel Nefve took the first set on court one shortly after with the same score while Matt Gamble finished off the opening set with a 6-3 victory. Tristan McCormick outmatched his opponent in a close first set, ultimately claiming the victory with a 7-6 win.
Howells claimed the first singles point of the afternoon, posting his second 6-1 set win of the day to give the Irish a two point lead.
Shortly after, Nefve completed his second straight 6-1 victory to clinch the Irish point and give them a 3-0 lead.
Having dropped the first set, 6-2, Grayson Broadus fired back with 6-2 and 6-1 wins in the next two sets to clinch the match point for the Irish and fourth straight point for the 4-0 sweep.
Up Next
Notre Dame will compete later this week against Miami,Friday, before heading up to Tallahassee to play Florida State on Sunday.