CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A windy day in Chapel Hill saw the Notre Dame men’s team fall to #24 ranked host North Carolina 4-0.
Playing without top player Axel Nefve, the Irish doubles lineup would be mixed up a bit from what they have been playing. Matt Halpin and Jean-Marc Malkowski would step up to the top court to battle the 5th ranked doubles team of Cernoch and Kiger. Their match would be unfinished as UNC would pick up wins at #2 doubles against Fu and Conklin and the #3 team of Vashistha and Che, who paired together in the fall to win the Drobac-Beeman Invitational at Michigan State.
In singles, three contests would go into third sets as Che, playing #2 singles, Conklin at #4 and Malkowski at #5 competed to split with their Tar Heel opponents. But before their respective matches could be completed, North Carolina would take wins at #1, #3 and #6 in that order to wrap up the four points needed to win the team match. The remaining matches would not be finished.
Up Next:
Notre Dame will return to South Bend for their next couple matches, all of which are conference matches. Next weekend, on Friday, April 1st the Irish will take on the 8th ranked Demon Deacons of Wake Forest at 4pm. Then on Sunday they will take on NC State who is currently ranked 34th in the country but coming off two top-20 wins and 3 wins in their last four matches.
Box Score
#24 Duke 4 – #23 Notre Dame 0
Doubles
- Halpin/Malkowski(ND) vs. #5 Cernoch/Kiger(UNC) 3-5 Did Not Finish
- #67 Zapp/Kania(UNC) def. Conklin/Fu(ND) 6-4
- Sigouin/Murphy(UNC) def. Vashistha/Che(ND) 6-2
Singles
- #28 Cernoch(UNC) def. Vashistha(ND) 6-2, 6-3
- Che(ND) vs. Siguoin(UNC) 4-6, 6-3, 1-1 Did Not Finish
- Kiger(UNC) def. Fu(ND) 7-5, 6-1
- Conklin(ND) vs. Zapp(UNC) 2-6, 7-5, 0-1 Did Not Finish
- Malkowski(ND) vs. Watane(UNC) 7-5, 0-6 Did Not Finish
- Murphy(UNC) def. Bilsey(ND) 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles(2, 3); Singles (1, 3, 6)