May 25, 2016
By Joanne Norell
TULSA, Okla. – University of Notre Dame senior Quentin Monaghan took a strong first step Wednesday toward repeating as an Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American.
The 35th-ranked Irish captain and 2016 recipient of the ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award defeated No. 57 Strong Kirchheimer of Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On a windy day at the University of Tulsa, Monaghan was dominant early and cruised late to hand Kirchheimer just his fourth loss of the year. The Northwestern junior was 30-3 entering the match, including 22-1 at the No. 3 spot for the Wildcats.
Monaghan picked up the first break to take a 3-2 lead in the first set and never relented, going on to snare the stanza 6-4. He again broke Kirchheimer immediately to start the second, sweeping his way to the straight-set victory.
“I thought I played pretty aggressively, especially in the big moments, which was key,” Monaghan said. “More than anything, I thought I played every point tough and was very clear with my game plan, which allowed me to put constant pressure on him.”
Monaghan advances to face UCLA’s sixth-ranked Mackenzie McDonald in the Round of 32 on Thursday at time that is to be determined. He will also play in the opening round of the doubles championship with partner Alex Lawson. The 15th-ranked senior duo will face No. 5 Korey Lovett and Mazen Osama of Alabama in the Round of 32.
“Tomorrow should be a great day,” Monaghan said. “I’m looking forward to a tough singles match and am excited to play doubles with Alex. Hopefully some of the experience I had in making a run last year [to the singles semifinal] will help me these next couple of days.”
2016 NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship
May 25-30
Case Tennis Center
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Singles
Round of 64
No. 35 Quentin Monaghan (ND) def. No. 57 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) 6-4, 6-0
Round of 32
No. 35 Quentin Monaghan (ND) vs. No. 6 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA), Time TBD
Doubles
Round of 32
No. 15 Alex Lawson / Quentin Monaghan (ND) vs. No. 5 Korey Lovett / Mazen Osama (Alabama), Time TBD
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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 women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.