April 7, 2012
DALLAS, Texas – The No. 43 Notre Dame men’s tennis team rallied from a 1-0 deficit to earn a hard-fought victory over SMU in Dallas, Texas on Saturday afternoon, 5-2. The Irish won five of six singles matches to win the match.
The Irish (16-7) play at No. 25 Texas A&M on Monday at 7 p.m. (ET) before returning home to meet conference rival Louisville on Senior Day next Saturday at 1 p.m.
SMU handled the Irish in doubles, but Notre Dame won five of six singles matches, with four of them coming in three sets, to make it out of Dallas with a win. Picking up crucial three-set wins were Greg Andrews, Sam Keeton, Billy Pecor and Niall Fitzgerald. The latter clinched the match with a 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles.
RESULTS
Doubles
No. 1 Doubles
Pabol Perez-Esnaola / Mischa Nowicki (SMU) d. Casey Watt / Niall Fitzgerald (ND), 8-5
No. 2 Doubles
Tobias Flood / Arturs Kazijevs (SMU) d. Greg Andrews / Spencer Talmadge (ND), 8-7
No. 3 Doubles
Gaston Cuadranti / Joseph Hattrup (SMU) d. Sam Keeton / Billy Pecor (ND), 8-3
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
No. 1 Singles
Gaston Cuadranti (SMU) d. Casey Watt (ND), 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
No. 2 Singles
Greg Andrews (ND) d. Arturs Kazijevs (SMU), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 Singles
Sam Keeton (ND) d. Pabol Perez-Esnaola (SMU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
No. 4 Singles
Billy Pecor (ND) d. Mischa Nowicki (SMU), 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 Singles
Niall Fitzgerald (ND) d. Joseph Hattrup (SMU), 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 Singles
Blas Moros (ND) d. Tobias Flood (SMU), 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 2, 1, 5, 3
–ND–