In their final match of their regular season, the No. 13 Irish made quick work of ACC opponent Boston College, coming away with a 7-0 sweep.
Senior Greg Andrews and freshman Josh Hagar won their doubles match 8-5, and sophomores Alex Lawson and Quentin Monaghan finished on top as well by a score of 8-0, putting the Eagles (6-15, 0-11 ACC) in a big hole in the early-going.
The Irish (18-8, 7-4 ACC) secured the victory in the singles matches without surrendering any sets to Boston College. Andrews, ranked No. 23 nationally in singles, defeated Eagle junior Philip Nelson; Monaghan took down senior Jonathan Raude and Hagar beat out freshman Hank Workman. The rout continued as freshman Eddy Covalschi, sophomore Eric Schnurrenberger and junior Wyatt McCoy triumphed in their matches too.
“We played a good match,” Irish coach Ryan Sachire said. “Obviously getting a 7-0 ACC win is nice. Our guys played hard and played well. We’ve got a lot of momentum heading into the ACC tournament.”
Sachire praised some of the less experienced players in particular for their performances against Boston College and over the past few weeks.
“Honestly the play of our younger guys was huge,” Sachire said. “We’ve got three first-year guys: our two freshmen Josh Hagar and Eddy Covalschi, plus Eric Schnurrenberger who’s a sophomore but didn’t play last year. Those three guys have really come into their own and are on winning streaks. They’ve really been dominating the bottom of the lineup.”
The Irish didn’t make many mistakes in the one-sided match, but Sachire said the team will still work to improve and go into the postseason with confidence.
“In a 7-0 win, it’s hard to find any really big problems, but we’ll keep working on the doubles matches and make sure that’s a strong weapon to have moving forward in the tournament this weekend,” Sachire said. “Again, we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves. We’ve won decisively in our last three ACC matches. Whoever we play will be a tough opponent, but I think we’ve got a really good chance.”
Next for the Irish is the ACC Championships in Cary, N.C., starting Thursday.
ND earns dominant win over Boston College
Irish freshman Josh Hagar delivers a forehand against Ohio State on Feb. 2 at Eck Tennis Pavilion. Hagar won his doubles match Saturday.
