Irish Fall 4-3 in Blacksburg Battle; Dominko Earns Two Ranked Wins

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team lost a war of a match against the Virginia Tech Hokies in which five singles matches would go to third sets. The Fighting Irish won the doubles point behind the continued strong play of the top two doubles pairs. The #11 ranked team of Sebastian Dominko and Jean-Marc Malkowski continued their winning ways with a 6-3 win over #80 ranked team from Virginia Tech. Then Nil Giraldez and Chase Thompson remained unbeaten as a tandem with a 6-2 win at the #2 position to move to 5-0 as a pair and secure the early lead for Notre Dame.

In singles, no match would be routine and not much separation between the opponents could be found on any court. The Hokies tied up the overall match with the only straight-set victory of the day at #2. But Notre Dame would take the next two matches to extend their lead again. Dominko, battling the #60 ranked player in the country, would cruise to a first set win 6-2 but after dropping the second 5-7, regrouped to take the third 6-1 and secure his second ranked victory of the afternoon. Malkowski, the lone senior on the team, followed a similar story line winning the first and third sets to secure another point.

At #3 singles, Jamie Corsillo found himself down 6-2, 5-1 but fought valiantly and won 6 straight games to win the second set. Ultimately, he dropped the final set and turn the eyes to courts #4 and #6 on the same side of the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center. Freshman Chase Thompson blitzed his opponent and won the first 6-0. But as the Hokie across the net settled in, he forced long second and third sets in which both would go to tiebreaks and the way of the home team. With the match score tied 3-3, junior Yu Zhang would rebound from a first set loss to win the second. After a back and forth set, and saving multiple match points in both the set and the tiebreak, he would come up just short, losing the match 11-9 in the tiebreak.

Up Next:

The men’s team will wrap up their spring break week against the Virginia Cavaliers. The Irish will take on the two-time defending national champions at 1 p.m. in Charlottesville on Sunday before returning back home.

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Box Score

#50 Notre Dame 3  – Virginia Tech 4

Doubles

1. #11 Dominko/Malkowski(ND) def. #80 Fishback/St. Hilaire(VT) 6-3
2. Giraldez/Thompson(ND) def. Orso/Shepheard(VT) 6-2
3. Lee/Zhang(ND) vs. Ix/Harper(VT) 2-4 DNF

Order of Finish(1, 2)

Singles

1. #34 Dominko(ND) def. #60 Fishback(VT) 6-2., 5-7, 6-1
2. St. Hilaire(VT) def. Giraldez(ND) 7-5, 6-3
3. Shepheard(VT) def. Corsillo(ND) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
4. Maia(VT) def. Thompson(ND) 0-6, 7-6, 7-6(3)
5. Malkowski(ND) def. Pomeranets(VT) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
6. Orso(VT) def. Zhang(ND) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(9)
   Order of Finish(2, 1, 5, 3, 4, 6)