SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A rare mid-week match took place at the Eck Tennis Pavilion where #25-ranked Louisville was in town to take on the University of Notre Dame.
The Cardinals would win the doubles point with wins at #2 and then #1 doubles.
In singles, the Irish would respond with a ferocious start, capturing five first sets. Jean-Marc Malkowski would be the first off the court with a dominant win over Natan Rodriquez. Rodriquez walked in as the Cardinal with the most wins on the year, undefeated at the #5 position and a junior career high of #6 in the world. However, Malkowski would run away with a 6-3, 6-2 victory to pull even.
Connor Fu, playing #2 singles, and Matt Che, playing #3 singles, would both follow up their opening set victories with a second set win to give the Irish two more points and a 3-1 lead overall. But the battle of nationally ranked singles players would go the way of Louisville as #91 Donnet would take down #123 Aditya Vashistha 7-5, 6-2. Shortly after, Mizrahi would come back from a set down against Braeden Ho to take the 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win and knot up the contest at 3-all.
With the team match still to be determined, all eyes would fall to court #4 as graduate student Peter Conklin would battle Sergio Hernandez. The first set would go the way of the Irish veteran who would open up a second set lead as well, arriving at match points. But Hernandez fought back to save match points against and force a tiebreak which he would win. As the third set began, they were the only players left still on court and while both players had many break opportunities, the first successful break conversion would go to Louisville to put them up 5-3 and serving for the match. Conklin would respond after dropping serve by immediately breaking back and then holding to make it 5-5 in the final set. Ultimately, the fight put up by Conklin was not quite enough as he fell short 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 and Louisville would walk away with the 4-3 victory.
Up Next:
Notre Dame will make a quick trip up to Boston to take on Boston College in their last regular season ACC match. The contest will take place at Weymouth Tennis Club at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 8th.
Box Score
#25 Louisville 4 – #29 Notre Dame 3
Doubles
- Chen/Donnet(UL) def. #67 Halpin/Malkowski(ND) 6-4
- Rodriquez/Hernandez(UL) def. Conklin/Fu(ND) 6-1
- Che/Vashistha(ND) vs. Fung/Wesbrooks(UL) 5-5 Did Not Finish
Singles
- #91 Donnet(UL) def. #123 Vashistha(ND) 7-5, 6-2
- Fu(ND) def. Howard-Tripp(UL) 6-2, 6-3
- Che(ND) def. Chen(UL) 6-1, 6-4
- Hernandez(UL) def. Conklin(ND) 4-6, 7-6, 7-5
- Malkowski(ND) def. Rodriquez(UL) 6-3, 6-2
- Mizrahi(UL) def. Ho(ND) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles(2, 1); Singles (5, 3, 2, 1, 6, 4)