After suffering its first loss of the season to No. 1 Virginia Sunday, No. 11 Notre Dame defeated Michigan State 4-3 Wednesday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
The Irish won despite dropping the doubles point; Michigan State won two of the three doubles matches.
Spartan seniors Nick Rink and Adam Monich defeated senior Sheeva Parbhu and junior Brett Helgeson 8-4 in the first doubles match.
"Michigan State is very good at one and two doubles," Bayliss said. "We usually rely on our one and two singles players and had to today as well."
Spartan junior Alex Forger teamed with freshman Billy Gardner to defeat senior Andrew Roth and freshman Stephen Havens 8-5 at No. 2 doubles.
"Havens is a great ball striker," Bayliss said. "He still has a few things to learn strategically, but he is making significant strides overall."
The Irish doubles teams salvaged one match with freshman Tyler Davis and junior Santiago Montoya defeating junior John Allare and freshman John Stratton 8-6.
In singles action, the Irish took charge and clinched the match.
Parbhu lost a tough match to Rinks 6-4, 0-6, 6-2, while Helgeson easily defeated Forger 6-1, 6-4.
Roth pulled out another tight match over Allare, winning in three sets, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Stephen Havens fell in tough match to Monich 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Fellow freshman David Anderson defeated junior Scott Rasmussen 6-3, 6-2 in the second match finished, and Davis also pulled out his singles match 6-1, 7-5.
Bayliss said Michigan State's serving put the Irish on their heels.
"They were able to get a lot more first serves in," Bayliss said of the recent doubles struggles. "We didn't get enough good looks at second serves and that really hurt us. It also limited our opportunities to capitalize on easy points."
The Irish will look to continue their winning ways as they travel to Evanston, Ill., this afternoon to take on Northwestern, with the match set to start at 4. Notre Dame is 3-1 on the young season.
