Following multiple tough weeks on the road, the Notre Dame men’s tennis team returned to South Bend for a rematch against ACC rival Louisville. The Irish opened the match with their feet on the gas pedal, flying past the Cardinals in a 4-0 victory. The win was extra special for Sebastian Dominko, Noah Becker and Perry Gregg, three graduating players celebrated for Senior Day.
No. 21 ranked Notre Dame took an early lead in doubles, with the senior Dominko and Gregg, a graduate, defeating Louisville juniors Hamza El Amine and Walid Ahouda 6-2. Dominko and Gregg were paired up towards the tail-end of the regular season, going 5-2 overall, including a huge 6-3 win over Stanford’s Jagger Leach and Samir Banerjee. The No. 57 ranked sophomore pair of Luis Llorens Saracho and Peter Nad sealed the doubles point for Notre Dame, beating sophomore Matei Onofrei and senior Pedro Cressoni 6-3. Senior Noah Becker and freshman Nicholas Patrick held a 5-3 lead for the Irish before their match was abandoned.
No. 18 Dominko kicked off singles play, racing away to a 6-3, 6-0 win against Ahouda. Llorens Saracho followed suit, defeating freshman Jerald Carroll 6-4, 6-1. No. 74 Gregg completed the Notre Dame sweep with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Onofrei.
The straightforward win was a perfect end to the regular season, especially after consecutive losses in last weekend’s Virginia road trip. The Irish finished the season 20-6 overall, including a 9-4 record in conference play. This is a massive improvement from last spring, when the team went 14-15 overall, and a miserable 1-12 in ACC matchups. More significantly, Notre Dame’s strong results secured a direct advancement to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, as it earned the No. 3 seed.
The 2026 ACC Tournament will run from April 14-19 in Cary, N.C. Getting over the hill in the country’s best conference will be no easy task, but Notre Dame has proven capable of hanging with anyone.
No. 3 Virginia will be the team to beat this year, having accrued a 20-3 record on the season. This included a 4-1 thrashing of Notre Dame on April 3. Right on their heels is No. 7 Wake Forest, who finished the season 25-3, and actually defeated Virginia 4-2. Notre Dame and Stanford will round out the top four, with the Cardinal boasting a 15-7 record, including a massive 4-3 upset against Wake Forest on April 3.
The Irish will have to rely on their deep doubles lineup to secure the precious team doubles point, which is often the difference-maker in postseason matches. While Dominko battles it out against the heavyweights of college tennis, the rest of the singles lineup will likely have to pull a few upsets to win it all. Thankfully, the players have excelled at doing just that this year, especially Gregg, who notably defeated Illinois’ No. 12 ranked Kenta Miyoshi 6-4, 7-5 in February. This week promises to be an exciting one for Notre Dame tennis fans, who will get to see the players lay it all on the line for an ACC trophy, as well as a spot at the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship.
