Irish Fall 4-3 to Illinois Before Defeating Chicago State

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The first match of the day was a close 4-3 loss at the hands of the Illinois Fighting Illini. Doubles would not go the way of the Fighting Irish, although the top duo of Sebastian Dominko and Jean-Marc Malkowski were up 5-4, 40-15 with Dominko serving when the doubles point was clinched and their court remained unfinished.

In singles, Illinois would go up 3-0 with wins at #4 singles and #2 singles but the Irish would respond and take the next two matches. Court #5 saw a repeat match of a contest played this fall between Malkowski and his Illinois opponent. As he did in the fall, the Irish senior would come away victorious, put the first point on the board for Notre Dame with a 6-4, 7-5 win.

Dominko picked up his sixth match win of the spring and collected his highest ranked win his year. He defeated the #22 ranked player in the country in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5 to further close the gap in the overall team score. Jameson Corsillo played a match that was close the entire way and only saw a few breaks of serve with both guys holding a majority of the time. But he would ultimately fall in a 6-4, 7-5 match securing the win for the visitors.

Freshman Kyran Magimay was left on court to finish out his match at #6 singles. He dropped his first set 4-6 but responded to take the second set 6-2 and force a full third. Despite the team match being over, the rookie from London battled hard and won 7-5 in the final set to secure his first career dual match win, making the final score 3-4.

A short 15 minute delay from the original start time of 5 p.m., the men’s team was back on the court to take on the Chicago State in the second and last match of the weekend. Noah Becker jumped in at #3 doubles with Nil Giraldez and the duo made quick work of their opponents and won 6-0. Jayanth Devaiah partnered with Dominko on court #1 and secured his first dual match doubles win of his career 6-3.

Evan Lee was in at #6 for his first singles match of the year and set the tone for the team with a fast 6-0, 6-1 win. Chase Thompson won 6-1, 6-2 at #2 and Noah Becker sealed the team victory with a 6-2, 6-1 at #5 singles. The Irish split the day and overall move to 6-4 on the season.

Up Next:

Notre Dame will play a single match next weekend on Saturday the 24th against Ohio State at noon. The Buckeyes come to South Bend as the #1 ranked team in the country.

Box Score – Match 1

Notre Dame 3 – #23 Illinois 4

Doubles

1. Dominko/Malkowski(ND) vs. #59 Horve/Okonkwo(ILL) 5-4, 40-15 DNF
2. #3 Heck/Ozolins(ILL) def. Lee/Thompson(ND) 6-3
3. Debru/Miyoshi(ILL) def. Bilsey/Giraldez(ND) 6-2

Order of Finish(3, 2)

Singles

1. #70 Dominko(ND) def. #22 Heck(ILL) 6-2, 7-6()
2. #30 Ozolins(ILL) def. Giraldez(ND) 6-2, 7-5
3. Petrov(ILL) def. Corsillo(ND) 6-4, 7-5
4. #40 Miyoshi(ILL) def. Thompson(ND) 6-3, 6-2
5. Malkowski(ND) def. Okonkwo(ILL) 7-5, 6-4
6. Magimay(ND) def. Zhang(ILL) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
   Order of Finish(4, 2, 5, 1, 3, 6)

Box Score – Match 2

Notre Dame 4 – Chicago State 0

Doubles

1. Dominko/Devaiah(ND) def. Alvarez/Sandoval(CSU) 6-3
2. Lee/Malkowski(ND) vs. Siercke/Alves(CSU) 4-2 DNF
3. Becker/Bilsey(ND) def. Gahagan/Negret(CSU) 6-0

Order of Finish(3, 1)

Singles

1. Corsillo(ND) vs. Alvarez(CSU) 3-6, 2-1 DNF
2. Thompson(ND) def. Alves(CSU) 6-1, 6-2
3. Magimay(ND) vs. Sandoval(CSU) 7-5, 2-1 DNF
4. Devaiah(ND) vs. Radziwillowicz(CSU) 6-3, 4-4 DNF
5. Becker(ND) def. Siercke(CSU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Lee(ND) def. Austin(CSU) 6-0, 6-1
   Order of Finish(6, 2, 5)