ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Notre Dame was back on the road at Michigan Friday night where they fell 6-1 at the hands of the Wolverines. Doubles started with Chase Thompson and Evan Lee securing their third 6-0 win of the season at the #2 position. But the home team would take a pair of 6-4 wins at #1 and #3 respectively to clinch the doubles point.
Michigan took three singles points at #4, #3 and # 2 to secure the team victory. But the remaining matches would be played out and the Irish still on court each fought hard to extend their matches to third sets. Jean-Marc Malkowski would fall in a third set tiebreak after making a strong push back in the second and breaking late to stay in the match. After trading the opening lopsided sets in a match of two of the best players in college tennis, Sebastian Dominko ultimately fell 6-4 in the third to the #17 ranked player in the country who was defending his home court.
Yu Zhang was slotted at #6 and despite dropping the opening set 6-1, clawed his way back to even the match winning a second set tiebreak. With the team match decided, he would play a match tiebreak for the third and ultimately came out ahead with a 10-7 win to score the point on the board for the Irish.
Up Next
The men’s team will return home this Sunday and start a long home stand that will see the Irish host nine matches over the next month. This Sunday, Notre Dame will host Auburn at noon before taking on defending Mid-American Conference Champion Toledo at 5 p.m. Fans in attendance will receive a FREE souvenir cup and can stamp their Loyalty Cards to continue to gain points towards further prizes.
Box Score
Notre Dame 1 – #13 Michigan 6
Doubles
- Young/Bickersteth(MICH) def. Dominko/Malkowski(ND) 6-4
- Lee/Thompson(ND) Cooksey/Hanchaikul(MICH) 6-0
- Ehrenschneider/Steiglehner(
MICH) def. Bilsey/Giraldez(ND) 6-4
Order of Finish(2, 1, 3)
Singles
- #17 Young(MICH) def. #70 Dominko(ND) 1-6, 6-1, 6-4
- #48 Bickersteth(MICH) def. Giraldez(ND) 6-4, 6-4
- #125 Hanchaikul(MICH) def. Thompson(ND) 6-3, 6-1
- Swenson(MICH) def. Corsillo(ND) 6-3, 6-1
- Cooksey(MICH) def. Malkowski(ND) 6-4, 5-7, 1-0(7)
- Zhang(ND) def. Steiglehner(MICH) 1-6, 7-6, 1-0(5)
Order of Finish(4, 3, 2, 5, 1, 6)