Packed Weekend Ends in 7-0 Sweep

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Men’s Tennis team capped off a grueling 3-match weekend with a win against St. Bonaventure Sunday evening in the Eck. Before that, they pushed the #1 and #5 teams in the country, Wake Forest and North Carolina State, in matches that each lasted more than 3 hours and came down to the wire.

On Friday night, the top ranked team in the country, Wake Forest, came to the Eck with an unblemished 24-0 record on the season. They had not lost a doubles point all season but that changed as the Irish would put the first point on the board with wins at #1 and #3 doubles. Sebastian Dominko and Chase Thompson defeated the #40 team in the country 6-3 and put Peter Nad and Luis Llorens in position to clinch with a 6-4 win at the #3 position.

In singles, Dominko secured his highest ranked singles victory of this season as he took down #6 in the country. A high level first set saw the Irish junior save two set points in the tiebreak to win 7-6(6) and then runaway with the second 6-2. Thompson, Jamie Corsillo and Kyran Magimay all pushed back in their matches after dropping the first set on their respective courts. Unfortunately, Magimay and Thompson would surrender their matches, leaving Corsillo unfinished.

Sunday morning started with another long ACC battle as Notre Dame hosted #5 ranked North Carolina State. The doubles point was tightly contested. After Notre Dame dropped the top court to the #23 ranked doubles team, Nad and Llorens once again won the #3 court in a tiebreak 7-6(2) to put all eyes on #2 doubles. Corsillo and Zhang gained the early break to lead 3-1 but their opponents evened it up and the match would go to a tiebreak as well, one that the visitors would win 7-6(3).

Singles was a back and forth affair with North Carolina State taking the first point in singles at #3 before Notre Dame could put their first point on the scoreboard. Dominko played the #26 player in the country and broke opening game of the match, the only break of serve for either player all day. He would win the first set 6-4 and the second would go to a tiebreak that the Irish junior would sweep, winning 7-straight points to take the match.

The Wolfpack took the next court at #2 singles to put themselves within one of the team victory. But Zhang, playing #3 singles, responded with a 6-4, 6-4 win over the #70 player in the country to score the point for his team while defeating the highest ranked opponent of his collegiate singles career. Kyran Magimay, after dropping the opening set 6-1, leveled the match with a 6-3 set of his own. In the third, he rallied from being down 4-1 to come away with the 7-5 win to even the overall match score.

With the match deadlocked at 3-3 overall, Llorens found himself splitting a pair of 6-4 sets and needing a third set in front of teammates and fans. Unfortunately, he could not overcome his opponent who has only lost one match all year and the visitors survived to win 4-3.

In the final match of the weekend, Notre Dame swept St. Bonaventure 7-0. The Bonnies came in short a player with only 5 healthy to step on the courts meaning they had to default #3 doubles and #6 singles. In doubles, Jayanth Devaiah and Brian Bilsey won their set at #2 doubles 6-1 to clinch the doubles point. Noah Becker and Dominko reunited at #1 and also won their set 6-1 moments later.

In singles, all matches would be quick straight set wins with Noah Becker leading the way at #5 who did not surrender a game. Zhang played at #1 and got his second singles win of the day and Brian Bilsey picked up the 6-1, 6-0 win at #4. Magimay got his second win of the day as well with his 6-3, 6-1 win at the #3 position and Nad wrapped up the weekend with a 6-2, 6-0 win.

Up Next:

The Notre Dame men will have a second consecutive weekend at home as they take on #6 Virginia on Friday the 28th at 5pm. Then on Sunday the 30th, the Irish will play #63 Virginia Tech at 12pm with Southern Indiana to follow at 4pm as the last home match of the season for the men. At the conclusion of the morning match on Sunday, Notre Dame will have their senior day ceremony in celebration of the three graduating players Brian Bilsey, Jamie Corsillo and Yu Zhang.

Friday Box Score

#61 Notre Dame 2 #1 Wake Forest 4

Doubles

1. Dominko/Thompson(ND) def. #40 Robertson/Suresh(WF) 6-3
2. #3 Tacchi/Pow(WF) def. Corsillo/Zhang(ND) 6-2
3. Llorens/Nad(ND) def. Xilas/Capalbo(WF) 6-4

Order of Finish (1, 3)

Singles

1. #34 Dominko(ND) def. #6 Suresh(WF) 7-6(6), 6-2
2. #67 Xilas(WF) def. Zhang(ND) 7-5, 6-4
3. Tacchi(WF) def. Thompson(ND) 6-3, 5-7, 7-5
4. Pow(WF) def. Nad(ND) 6-4, 6-4
5. Corsillo(ND) vs. Capalbo(WF) 4-6, 6-4, 2-5 DNF
6. Guilleme(WF) def. Magimay(ND) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3

Order of Finish (1, 4, 6, 2, 3)

Sunday Box Score – Match 1

#61 Notre Dame 3   #5 North Carolina State 4

Doubles

1. #9 Shick/VanSambeek(NCST) def. Dominko/Thompson(ND) 6-2
2. #23 Staeheli/Leroux (NCST) def. Corsillo/Zhang(ND) 7-6(3)
3. Llorens/Nad(ND) def. Nedelochev/Gabriel(NCST) 7-6(2)

Order of Finish (1, 3, 2)

Singles

1. #34 Dominko(ND) def. #26 Shick(NCST) 6-4, 7-6(0)
2. #23 Borisiouk(NCST) def. Thompson(ND) 7-5, 6-4
3. Zhang(ND) def. #70 Staeheli(NCST) 6-4, 6-4
4. Van Sambeek(NCST) def. Nad(ND) vs. 6-3, 6-0
5. Leroux(NCST) def. Llorens(ND) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
6. Magimay(ND) def. Manning(NCST) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5

Order of Finish (4, 1, 2, 3, 6, 5)

Sunday Box Score – Match 2

#61 Notre Dame 7.  St. Bonaventure 0

Doubles

1. Dominko/Becker(ND) def. Turner/Cahill-Welsh(SBU) 6-1
2. Bilsey/Devaiah(ND) def. Ganguly/Kim(SBU) 6-1
3. Magimay/Nad(ND) wins by default, no player

Order of Finish (2, 1)

Singles

1. Zhang(ND) def. Turner(SBU) 6-0, 6-2
2. Nad(ND) def. Ganguly(SBU) 6-2, 6-0
3. Magimay(ND) def. Cahill-Welsh(SBU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Bilsey(ND) def. Kim(SBU) 6-1, 6-0
5. Becker(ND) def. Marais(SBU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Devaiah(ND) wins by default, no player

Order of Finish (5, 1, 4, 3, 2)