The Notre Dame men’s tennis team remains undefeated after a dominant display in the home opener.
After a gritty away victory against Yale on Friday, the Notre Dame men’s tennis team hosted the Duquesne Dukes and Western Michigan Broncos on a chilly Monday morning. The Irish breezed through their first duel, beating Duquesne 6-1, going 5-1 in singles and an impressive 3-0 in doubles to secure the team doubles point. After a short break, the men’s team swept Western Michigan 7-0, winning all three doubles matches. The Irish men’s team is now 3-0, and the players are hitting their stride as the season gears up.
Notre Dame dominated the singles matchplay against Duquesne. Freshman Nolan Balthazor put the team on the scoreboard with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against sophomore Tancredi Alfano. Notre Dame graduate student Perry Gregg doubled the Irish lead with a 6-0, 6-1 win against sophomore Enrique Lana. Junior Kyran Magimay defeated sophomore Aril Kayra Tuna 6-2, 6-3, and sophomore Giuseppe Cerasuolo finished shortly after, beating Duquesne junior Austin Lai 6-3, 6-1. Notre Dame freshman Nicholas Patrick closed out the singles matches against senior Alfrendo Vogelaar. After a tight 7-5 first set, Patrick cruised through the second set with a score of 6-2. Notre Dame senior Noah Becker withdrew from his match against sophomore Teo Papdopoulos. The walkover was Notre Dame’s only loss of the day.
On the doubles side, Notre Dame senior Sebastian Dominko and his partner Noah Becker defeated Tuna and Lana 6-0. The freshman duo of Patrick and Balthazor finished shortly after, winning 6-1 against sophomores Uvan Patel and Tancredi Alfano. No. 15-ranked sophomores Peter Nad and Luis Llorens Saracho led Lai and Vogelaar 4-2 in the final, unfinished match.
After a brief hiatus, the Irish kicked off the second leg of the doubleheader against Western Michigan University. No. 24 Sebastian Dominko opened up his singles play for the day with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over junior Ashton Adesoro. Llorens Saracho finished just before him with a lightning-quick 6-1, 6-1 win over junior Dimitry Moriarty. The remainder of the singles matches were more competitive. Gregg defeated sophomore Oscar Corwin 7-6(4), 6-3, followed shortly by Nad, who gutted out a 7-6(2), 7-5 win over sophomore Jack Davison. Kyran Magimay edged past WMU freshman Jonas Keck 6-4, 7-5, and Cerasuolo closed out the singles competition in a 7-5, 7-5 battle against junior Matej Kajzer.
In doubles matchplay, Nad and Saracho defeated the No. 80-ranked duo of Oscar Corwin and sophomore Alex Antonopoulos 6-3, while Dominko and Becker beat junior Drew Evans and Jonas Keck 6-3 as well. Gregg and Patrick led Davison and Adesoro 4-3 before the match was abandoned.
Monday’s dominant display from the Irish men’s team showed promising signs of development, especially on the doubles side. Winning the doubles battle will be essential to achieving positive results against the difficult ACC schedule, and these less consequential matches are the perfect tune-up for doubles pairs and coach Ryan Sachire to decide what works best for the lineup.
For their next duel, Notre Dame’s men’s team heads to Kentucky, where it will face a tough challenge against Louisville. The duel is scheduled for Jan. 25, 12:00 p.m. EST.
