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Friday, March 29, 2024
The Observer

Irish doubles team advances to quarterfinals

Over the weekend, Notre Dame made deep runs in both singles and doubles competition at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Junior Quentin Monaghan advanced to the round of 32 in the singles main draw, going 4-1 at the tournament. Ranked No. 88 nationally, Monaghan won all three of his qualifying matches to make the main draw.

In his first match of the tournament, Monaghan defeated Dartmouth senior Chris Kipouras, 6-3, 6-2. He followed this up with another victory in straight sets, against Oklahoma sophomore Alex Ghilea, 7-6, 7-6. In the final match of the qualifying draw, he won once again in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, against No. 89 Georgia junior Nick Wood.

Irish junior Alex Lawson launches a serve during Notre Dame’s match with Florida State on April 3 at Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Wei Lin
Wei Lin
Irish junior Alex Lawson launches a serve during Notre Dame’s match with Florida State on April 3 at Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Monaghan advanced to the 64-player main draw by going 3-0 in qualifiers. In his first-round matchup, Monaghan faced No. 33 USC senior Roberto Quiroz. Monaghan dominated the first set, 6-0, and toughed out the second, 7-5, to take the match.

The win against Quiroz set Monaghan up to play in the round of 32 against No. 12 junior Austin Smith from Georgia. Monaghan lost the first set 6-3, came back to win the second set 6-3, but dropped the final set, 6-4, ending his tournament run. So far in the fall season, Monaghan is 5-1 in singles play, including three wins over ranked opponents.

Sophomore Josh Hagar and junior Kenneth Sabacinski also competed in singles play, coming away with a combined 2-2 record. Hagar competed in the qualifying round, while Sabacinski played in the pre-qualifying round.

Senior Billy Pecor and junior Alex Lawson combined to advance to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw. The duo, ranked No. 27 in the nation, began its run against the Texas A&M combo of freshman AJ Catanzariti and sophomore Max Lukin. Pecor and Lawson came away with the win in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.

In the round of 16, Pecor and Lawson took on the twelfth-ranked South Florida pair of junior Roberto Cid and sophomore Sasha Gozun. In a much closer quarterfinals match, Pecor and Lawson went to tiebreakers in both sets but came away with the win, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). In the quarterfinals, Pecor and Lawson faced the third-ranked squad in the country, sophomore Arjun Kadhe and senior Jakob Sude of Oklahoma State. The Cowboys sprinted past the Irish, 6-1, 6-4.

Overall, the Irish came away from the ITA All-American Championships with eight wins in singles and doubles play. Notre Dame takes a break from competition this weekend, and begins play at the Midwest Regional Championships on Oct. 16 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.