Notre Dame remained undefeated on its home courts this weekend, cruising past No. 22 Michigan on Friday and sweeping Northwestern 7-0 Sunday.
Michigan jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point. Michigan's Mike Sroczynski and George Navas defeated Notre Dame's Stephen Bass and Andrew Roth 8-4 at No. 3 doubles. Michigan's No. 3 Matko Maravic and Brian Hung dominated at No. 1 doubles, where they defeated Notre Dame's No. 9 Ryan Keckley and Sheeva Parbhu 8-3 to clinch the doubles point for the Wolverines.
The Irish rallied to post stronger performances in singles play and garner straight-set wins at five positions.
National No. 11 Bass captured the first singles point at No. 1 singles, defeating No. 34 Maravic 6-0, 6-1. The win was Bass' tenth victory of the season over a nationally ranked opponent. Keckley gave the Irish the go-ahead point at No. 4 singles, defeating Ryan Heller 6-1, 6-2, and the team never looked back. Roth extended the lead to 3-1 with his 7-6 (1), 6-1 victory over Sroczynski at No. 6 singles. Brett Helgeson clinched the win for the Irish when he upended Andrew Maziln 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 singles.
The Irish continued their successful weekend when they beat No. 45 Northwestern.
Notre Dame took an early lead with a 3-0 sweep of doubles play. Bass and Roth took the first doubles point at No. 3 doubles with a swift 8-1 win over Northwestern's Christian Tempke and Juan Gomez. No. 1 singles presented the Irish with the chance to take the doubles point. No. 9 Keckley and Parbhu took the match 8-3 over Northwestern's Willy Lock and Matt Christian to give the Irish the lead for good.
Singles play was just as rewarding for Notre Dame. Barry King took the first match for the Irish at No. 5 singles in straight sets defeating Gomez 6-3, 6-2. Helgeson won his second match for the weekend and gave the Irish the 3-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-3 routing of Christian at No. 4. Parbhu sealed the win for Notre Dame with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Lock at No. 1. It marked the first time since Feb. 4 that Parbhu played at the No. 1 singles spot. Notre Dame clinched the win with victories by Bass at No. 2, Roth at No. 6, and Keckley at No. 6.
With its win over Northwestern, Notre Dame improved to 6-0 at home and 10-2 for the season.
