The No. 36 Irish split the two matches they played in Texas over Easter break, defeating SMU, 5-2, before falling to No. 12 Texas A&M, 6-1.
"We played a pretty complete match against SMU on Saturday," Irish coach Bobby Bayliss said. "They have a great stadium, but the courts were pretty quick and I thought our guys did a good job of adjusting to them. "
The Irish started off the weekend with a victory over SMU, led by winning two out of the three doubles matches to claim the doubles point.
Singles wins by juniors Stephen Havens and Dan Stahl, sophomore Sam Keeton and freshman Blas Moros impressed Bayliss.
"Stephen played aggressively and got in to the net to finish points against a guy who could be troublesome. Dan handled pace well and was able to stay on the offensive, which was important there," Bayliss said. "Sam did a good job of changing things up and getting out of trouble. Blas had to really fight and won a long tiebreaker after falling behind early."
Sophomore Casey Watt and junior David Anderson were the only two Irish players to drop a match, as they lost close matches at No. 1 and No. 3 singles, respectively.
In the second match of the weekend the Irish lost to Texas A&M. Moros secured the only win for the Irish on the day.
The Irish fell behind early and were not able to recover after dropping the doubles point.
"Blas Moros played more aggressively [Sunday night] against A&M," Bayliss said. "He stayed up tight on the baseline and played a very gritty match. "
The Irish will attempt to regain their momentum at home today, facing No. 2 Ohio State at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
"We know Ohio State well," Bayliss said. "Despite their ranking we feel that this will be a close match."
"They are very well coached and play great doubles, with lots of wrinkles in their formations, so we will need to be at our best there. Several of our guys have really begun to come into their own, so this is a challenge we readily embrace."
The Irish will look to pull off the upset and play strong at doubles against Ohio State. First serve is set for 3:30 p.m.
