The Irish debuted their 2014 spring campaign in victorious fashion at the Eck Tennis Pavilion over the weekend, beating William & Mary on Friday night and Michigan State and Toledo in a doubleheader on Sunday. The trio of victories were the first under first-year Irish coach Ryan Sachire. Notre Dame (3-0) swept William and Mary (2-2) Friday evening, going 7-0, and freshmen Josh Hagar and Eddy Covalschi won their first matches as members of the Irish in the third and six spots, respectively.
The Irish handled Toledo (0-3) in a similar fashion two days later, as they swept the Rockets 7-0. Notre Dame swept their doubles matches against Toledo, with scores of 6-1 and 6-0. The Irish doubles duos needed only 22 minutes to best the Rockets. Senior captain Greg Andrews, who is ranked 22nd in the country, set the tone in the No. 1 spot for the Notre Dame throughout the weekend, besting the Tribe’s Ben Hoogland, 6-4, 6-2. Again in the top spot, Andrews delivered a similar performance Sunday afternoon, beating Michigan State’s Aaron Pfister 6-5 and 6-0 and again on Sunday night as he defeated Toledo’s Stjepan Sisko 6-4, 6-1.
The Irish won 5-2 against the Spartans (2-1). Andrews, Hager, sophomore Eric Schnurrenberger, and freshman Eddy Covalschi, led the Irish to victory in the first, third, fourth and sixth spots, respectively. In doubles play the duos Andrews and sophomore Alex Lawson, who are ranked 21st in the country, and seniors Ryan Bandy and Matt Dooley bested their Michigan State competition 7-5 and 7-6, respectively.
The doubles match against the Spartans proved to be the most competitive of the weekend, after Billy Pecor and Schnurrenberger lost the first of three doubles matches, the duos of Bandy and Dooley and Andrews and Lawson had to come from behind, before winning the final two matches of the evening that guaranteed Notre Dame would earn the doubles point.
The undefeated Irish hope to carry momentum from their opening weekend victories into their inaugural ACC season, which features 17 teams that are nationally ranked.
The Irish will continue their spring season this upcoming weekend in Lexington, Kentucky, as they take on Minnesota on Jan. 24 and BYU and Kentucky the following day in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Tournament. Notre Dame returns home to the Eck Tennis Pavilion for a rematch against the Wildcats on Feb. 2.
