PRINCETON, N.J. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team kicked off the 2023 fall season at the Farnsworth Hidden Duals hosted by Princeton. The three day event saw the Fighting Irish play a dual match format against Memphis first on Friday, the host Princeton on Saturday and then wrapping up with Tulane on Sunday morning. Each day started with four doubles matchups and then singles to follow.
Opening up the weekend, the Irish took on the Memphis Tigers outdoors. Although competitive doubles matches up and down, and a match point at the #1 position in the tiebreak, the Irish would come up empty in the win column to start the day. But in singles, a trio of wins would come by graduate transfer Nil Giraldez, junior Brian Bilsey and sophomore Noah Becker. Nil would garner his first career victory wearing the ND uniform with a straight-set win at #4 while Becker also picked up his win in straight sets at #8. Bilsey would go the distance and be the last man on the court for opening day but left victorious with a three-set victory. Freshman Chase Thompson, who played at the top spot in the lineup for his first competition wearing the blue and gold, would fall in three sets to the #35 player in the country.
Rain Saturday would force the match against the host Princeton Tigers indoors. Giraldez and Zhang teamed up to get the 8-2 win in doubles to start the match. In singles, Thompson would secure his first career victory as well as defeating his first ranked opponent, the #73 player in the country in straight sets. Classmate Kyran Magimay would also get his first ever win with a straight set win at the #7 position. Becker and Bilsey won their matches as well at the #6 and #8 positions respectively, Bilsey again in three sets, to make it a 4-4 split on the day in singles.
The final day of play would remain indoors as the Irish took on the Tulane Green Wave. Becker and Bilsey would get a quick doubles win while the other courts would not go the way of the Irish. In singles, Thompson got another win at the #1 spot with a 6-3, 2-6, 1-0(9) victory to move to 2-1 on the weekend in singles. Magimay would also improve to 2-1 overall with a 6-3, 7-6 win at #5.
Bilsey and Becker both left the weekend with an unblemished 3-0 record in singles and a doubles win to their name as well. Both freshman went 2-1 in singles as well in their maiden tournament as members of the Notre Dame men’s tennis team.
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