The Irish split its pair of matches over the weekend, sweeping William and Mary 7-0 Friday night before falling to Illinois on Sunday in Champaign, Ill. Irish coach Bobby Bayliss said he was pleased with his squad's performance in Friday's victory.
"Friday night, our guys went out and got the job done," Bayliss said. "It was pleasing to see that we did not take William and Mary for granted. Our singles play was solid and our doubles play was strong against a team that is known for pretty strong doubles play."
Notre Dame's trip to Illinois on Sunday represented the squad's first road match of the year. The Irish had a chance for an upset over No. 17 Illinois, but failed to take advantage of the opportunity.
"Losing the early doubles point was crucial," Bayliss said. "Losing at No. 2 doubles is pretty much what put the match in the advantage of [Illinois]. We failed to take advantage of the opportunity there and it cost us dearly. We needed to be aggressive there and it just did not happen."
While the Irish were sharp in their victory over William and Mary, Bayliss said his squad's quality of play fell significantly on Sunday.
"We made a lot of mistakes all afternoon," Bayliss said. "There were some areas where we need to make some adjustments and improvements. We were not too great fundamentally and it's hard to win when the fundamentals are not there." Despite losing to Illinois, there were a few Irish players who turned in outstanding performances. Sophomore Greg Andrews upset senior Roy Kalmanovich, the 24th ranked player nationally, at second singles, 6-2, 6-3.
"It was a great win for him," Bayliss said. "I was very impressed with the performance he turned in. He played a great match."
Bayliss also commended junior BlasMoros and sophomore Billy Pecor. "Moros was able to give us a strong victory at No. 6 singles," Bayliss said. "He played well and had control the entire match. Pecor beat Stephen Hoh at No. 3 singles, which was quite impressive, as Hoh is a really good player who has beat us before. It was a great win for Pecor and it is definitely something he should be able to build on." The Irish will look to get back on the winning track this coming weekend when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on Indiana on Friday and either Ohio State or Cornell on Saturday.
Contact Walker Carey at wcarey@nd.edu
