LAKE NONA, Fla. – The 2022-2023 season came to an end Wednesday afternoon at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida. The Fighting Irish’s top duo of Sebastian Dominko and Connor Fu fell in the opening round of the NCAA Doubles Championships. Dominko concluded singles play Tuesday in the second round.
Dominko came into the NCAA Singles Championships on Monday as a top-16 seed which guarantees his status as an All-American. He opened up play against Henry von der Schulenberg, a 2022 All-American representing Harvard. The match started with both players holding serve, often with ease, to get to 5-4 in the first set. But then the Irish player won a deuce point to secure the first break of serve and win the first set 6-4. The pair would trade holds again to begin the second set before a back injury forced the Crimson player to take a medical timeout. When play resumed, Dominko would take four of the next five games to clinch the match and a spot in the second round. The dominant serving performance saw the freshman go unbroken behind a flurry of a dozen aces.
The second round contest on Tuesday morning would be against a familiar foe from the ACC, fellow freshman and fellow lefty Pedro Rodenas of Duke. The first set would be similar to the previous day as both players would hold serve until late in the set. But this time, Dominko would be the one broken at 4-4 and the Blue Devil would consolidate and win the first set 6-4. Responding right away, a hold followed by a break and hold would put Dominko up 3-0. He would carry that momentum through and runaway to a 6-1 second set win to force a decider. In the third, the Irish fell behind early and found himself down 4-1 but battled back to pull within one game at 3-4. After getting broken and arriving at match point against, Dominko came up with some incredible tennis including a forehand passing shot winner to stay in the match. Unfortunately, he couldn’t sustain it further and would lose the contest 6-4 in the final set to end his outstanding freshman singles campaign.
First round doubles action was scheduled to start on Tuesday but as has been a theme all week, rain changed that schedule and would push the match to Wednesday afternoon. Finally getting on the court outdoors, Dominko and senior captain Connor Fu would hold as expected and only need one break of serve to win the opening set 6-4. An early lull by the Irish and a raised level from their Illini opponents saw the Irish pair fall behind in the second set and they could not recover, dropping the second set 6-1. With a spot in the second round on the line, a 10-point match tiebreak would be played to determine the winner. It was back and forth the entire way as Notre Dame took the early lead 4-2 at the first change of ends. Illinois would respond in the next frame and take a 7-5 lead at the next switch. The blue and orange would extend the lead to 8-5 before Fu hit two devastating forehands on back-to-back points to earn the error from the opposing volleyer. At 8-8, the Illini would win to put themselves a point from victory and on their first match point hit a mis-hit volley winner to clinch the match and end the season.
Singles
Round of 64 Dominko(ND) def. von der Schulenberg(HARV) 6-4, 6-3
Round of 32 Rodenas(DUKE) def. Dominko(ND) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
Doubles
Heck/Ozolins(ILL) def. Dominko/Fu(ND) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0(8)