NCAA Mens Tennis

Spring Break Tough on the Irish – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website

Spring Break Tough on the Irish – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team spent their spring break down south in Florida training and preparing to finish with a pair of ACC opponents at the end of the week. But the week would end on a tough note as the Irish would take a pair of losses to Miami and Florida State to end their trip.

Last Friday, the match with Miami would start well as Notre Dame would win a gritty doubles point with some new doubles teams in the lineup. At #2 and #3 doubles, both teams would come back from a break down in their set and extend the matches. Yu Zhang  and Evan Lee would win four-straight games to win their set 7-5 and put the Irish within a match of taking the doubles point. Connor Fu has appeared in every match at the top position in the lineup but this weekend he had a new partner in Jean-Marc Malkowski. The duo would find themselves in a server’s battle as both teams held until they reached a tiebreak with no breaks of serve. A long tiebreak would ensue and after saving set points, the Irish pair clinched the doubles point with a  10-8 tiebreak victory. The #2 team of Sebastian Dominko and Noah Becker would come back from a break down as well and position themselves to win tiebreak of their own, being up 6-3 before their match would end abandoned since the doubles point was over.

In singles, Addy Vashistha would race out to a victory at the #4 position with a 6-3, 6-3 win. But the Miami team would take the next four matches to take the contest overall. Although the match was determined, the match at #1 singles would be played to completion. After Dominko lost a close first set 7-5, he came roaring back to take the second 6-0. After getting down an early break, the big lefty would get it back on serve and after some back and forth would play a long tiebreak to win the match against the #44 ranked player in the country and secure his fourth consecutive win over a ranked opponent.

On Sunday, with overcast skies and a cool breezy day, Notre Dame played #17 ranked Florida State and found little success. In doubles, Fu and Malkowski would win their match again to go undefeated in doubles on their debut weekend at #1 together. But the Seminoles would win the other positions and take a 1-0 lead heading in to singles. The Irish would struggle early and drop every first set with Dominko being closest with a tough tiebreak loss. He ultimately fell 6-4 in the second as well to the #4 ranked player in the country. Fu,…

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