The Notre Dame men’s tennis team hit the road for the first time this season and came away with a 5-2 win at Wisconsin on Sunday. The Irish would take the doubles point and four singles victories to claim the victory and move to 3-0 on the young season.
In doubles, the #3 team of Nil Giraldez and Yu Zhang sprinted out of the gate and secured their match without dropping a game by a 6-0 score. Sebastian Dominko and Jean-Marc Malkowski suffered their first loss of the year as a team at #1 doubles, 6-3, turning all eyes to Chase Thompson and Evan Lee at #2 doubles to decide the doubles point. The Irish duo found themselves down 2-5 and a double break before mounting a comeback. The freshman/sophomore combo rattled off 4 straight games to edge in front at 6-5. After a hold by the Badgers to force a tiebreak, Notre Dame took the early lead and never looked back claiming the 7-2 tiebreak win and the doubles point for the Irish.
In singles, Dominko rebounded from his loss in doubles and put a quick point win the board with a 6-1, 6-4 win at the top singles spot. It was close on a number of courts early and three singles matches would go to tiebreakers in the first set, all of which Notre Dame would win. After Wisconsin would take the match at #2 singles, Malkowski would be next off the court. He played a rollercoaster of a first set winning the first five games before falling behind 6-5. But digging in, there Irish senior broke and then won the first set tiebreak before a 6-2 second set win and putting his team within a point of the victory. The Badgers would tally another point with a victory at #5 singles but the remaining two matches would go to the visiting team.
It was deja vu in singles for Thompson who would get down 2-5, double break just as they had in doubles. And just like in doubles, he would fight back and win the set in a tiebreak at #3 singles. He followed up with a 6-3 second set to win his court and clinch the Irish road victory. Zhang only a minute later would add the final point on the board with a very similar scoreline, winning 7-6, 6-2 at #6 to wrap up the afternoon in Madison.
Up Next:
The men’s team will head to Lexington, Kentucky to participate in ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Irish will take on host team and #10 ranked Kentucky in the first round on Friday at 1pm. Then on Saturday, they will match up against either Alabama or Nebraska for the second match. The team that wins both matches will advance to ITA National Indoors in February.
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Box Score
Notre Dame 5 – Wisconsin 2
Doubles
- Minasyan/Popovic (WISC) def. Dominko/Malkowski (ND) 6-3
- Lee/Thompson (ND) def. Olsson/Zlatohlavek (WISC) 7-6(2)
- Giraldez/Zhang (ND) def. Beduhn/Fullerton (WISC) 6-0
Order of Finish (3, 1, 2)
Singles
- #65 Dominko (ND) def. Popovic (WISC) 6-1, 6-4
- Minasyan (WISC) def. Giraldez (ND) 6-3, 6-1
- Thompson (ND) def. Fullerton (WISC) 7-6, 6-3
- Malkowski (ND) def. Zlatohlavek (WISC) 7-6, 6-2
- Beduhn (WISC) def. Corsillo (ND) 6-3, 6-1
- Zhang (ND) def. Olsson (WISC) 7-6, 6-2
Order of Finish (1, 2, 5, 4, 3, 6)