SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team kicks off fall action this weekend as they play at home in the Bobby Bayliss Hidden Duals. The Fighting Irish will line up against players from Alabama, Columbia and Michigan throughout the weekend. The event will feature head to head matches between players from all the team in a format that simulates a dual match but no team score is kept. Play each round will start with 4 doubles sets followed by 8 singles matches. All matches will be played outside at Notre Dame and is free for fans to attend.
The Irish return nine players off of their roster from last year including four singles starters. Current junior Jean-Marc Malkowski joins seniors Matthew Che and Connor Fu as well as graduate student Addy Vashistha as upperclassmen who each tallied 11+ dual match wins last season. Senior Matt Halpin is also back after racking up 9 doubles wins and breaking into the national doubles rankings with partner Malkowski at #67. Che ended the 2022 spring campaign in the doubles as well. Vashistha ended the year in the singles rankings and fins himself there to start the fall as he comes in at #99 in the ITA Preseason Singles Rankings.
The Competition
Alabama returns five players from their young roster in 2021-2022 which finished with a record of 9-21. They are led by sophomore Filip Planinsek who is ranked #13 in the ITA Preseason Singles Rankings.
Columbia finished last year ranked #27 in the country with a 15-9 record and a second round appearance in the NCAA tournament. In the opening round, Notre Dame and Columbia squared off in a very tightly contested match that would see the Lions come out on top 4-2. After the Irish won the doubles point, five of the six singles matches went to a deciding set. Che would tally the lone singles point with a come from behind win at #3 singles.
Michigan is coming off a year where they won the Big Ten tournament, made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament and ended the year ranked 8th in the country. In their meeting in February, the Wolverines would get the best of the Irish 4-1 in Ann Arbor. Addy Vashistha got Notre Dame on the board with a routine win over Styler at #2 singles.
Weekend Schedule:
Friday, September 23rd
11am: Alabama vs. Michigan
3:30pm: Notre Dame vs. Columbia
Saturday, September 24th
10am: Columbia vs. Michigan
2pm: Notre Dame vs. Alabama
Sunday, September 25th
9am: Alabama vs. Columbia
1pm: Notre Dame vs….