The No. 23 Irish split their matches this weekend at home, falling to No. 27 Michigan, and defeating No. 24 North Carolina.
The Irish started off both matches winning the doubles point in each for the 10th and 11th times this season having only lost the doubles point once — to No. 1 Virginia.
"We are playing better doubles this season because we return all of last year's starters and the experience has been helpful, particularly in making match adjustments," head coach Bobby Bayliss said. "Additionally, some of our guys are becoming much better around the net and have bought into solid principles."
In the first match of the weekend the Irish lost to the Wolverines by a 4-3 final score.
Junior Niall Fitzgerald earned victories for the Irish at No. 2 doubles and No. 6 singles.
Freshman Greg Andrews and junior Casey Watt earned their first victory at No. 3 doubles defeating Shaun Bernstein and Chris Cha 8-6.
Fitzgerald teamed with sophomore Spencer Talmadge to claim the doubles point for the Irish.
No. 77 Watt fell in singles to No. 48 Evan King at No. 1 singles to knot the match at one by a score of 6-2, 6-1.
No. 54 Jason Jung defeated senior Stephen Havens at No. 2 singles 6-3, 6-1.
Senior Tyler Davis fell to Barrett Franks at No. 5 singles to give Michigan a 3-1 advantage.
Andrews picked up Notre Dame's first singles win on the day at No. 4 singles defeating Justin Rossi 6-4, 7-5.
Dan Stahl lost the final singles match for the Irish to Bernstein 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 at No. 3.
In the second match on the weekend the Irish defeated North Carolina by a score of 5-1.
The Irish again claimed the doubles point winning at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.
No. 20 Brennan Boyajian and Jose Hernandez of North Carolina defeated Davis and Havens 8-4.
No. 51 Niall Fitzgerald and Spencer Talmadge defeated Stefan Hardy and Zach Hunter 8-3 at No. 2 doubles.
Watt and Andrews also defeated William Parker and Cameron Ahari by the same score.
Andrews defeated Ahari 6-2, 6-4 at No. 4 singles to give the Irish a 2-0 advantage before North Carolina got on the board.
No. 30 Hernandez defeated No. 77 Watt to give the Tar Heels their only victory of the day.
Stahl was able to defeat No. 101 Boyajian in a three set match at No. 3 singles 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to give the Irish a 3-1 advantage.
After dropping the first set 6-2, sophomore Blas Moros came back to claim the next two 6-2, 6-0, over Kyle Baker.
Havens defeated Hardy in another three setter 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 at No. 2, while Fitzgerald fell at No. 5 singles 6-7, 7-5, 1-0 to Parker.
The Irish will next head to the Blue-Gray National Classic in Birmingham, Ala. this coming weekend.
