Notre Dame concluded its fall season this weekend as two seniors competed in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships while eight more team members played in the Bulldog Scramble.
For the Indoor Championships, the Irish sent senior Quentin Monaghan, who is ranked No. 5 nationally, to compete in the singles tournament and senior Alex Lawson to compete with Monaghan in the doubles tournament. Monaghan had received an at-large bid to the singles competition due to his high ranking, while he and Lawson, the No. 28 pair in the country, qualified for the doubles event as a result of their win at the Regional Championships, which the Irish hosted October 22-26.
In Thursday’s round of 32, Monaghan drew a matchup with Stanford sophomore No. 20 Tom Fawcett. Fawcett upset Monaghan, defeating him in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
However, Monaghan recovered with two wins in the consolation bracket Friday and Saturday, defeating Oklahoma junior Alex Ghilea and Indiana senior Samuel Monette in straight sets. That would be as far as Monaghan would advance, however, as he then fell in the semifinals of the consolation bracket to Dartmouth senior No. 23 Dovydas Sakinis on Saturday to end his run in the tournament.
Monaghan found more success in the doubles tournament with Lawson. As the nation’s 28th-ranked doubles team, the duo received a first round bye on Thursday before defeating Stanford’s team of Fawcett and sophomore David Wilczynski in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Lawson and Monaghan ran into the No. 23 pairing of seniors Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson of Florida. In a back-and-forth, tightly-contested match, the Irish duo was able to win in three sets, 6-3, 6-7(4), 10-7.
However, in the semifinals on Saturday, Lawson and Monaghan were unable to defeat North Carolina’s No. 18 pair of senior Brett Clark and sophomore Robert Kelly, falling in another close match, 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-6, ending the Irish duo’s run in the tournament.
While Lawson and Monaghan were competing at the Indoor Championships, eight other team members competed at the Bulldog Scramble, which Georgia hosted at Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Overall, the team found only moderate success in the event, as the Irish compiled a record of 13-16 in singles play and 6-10 in doubles play over the course of the weekend.
Highlights for the Irish included senior Kenneth Sabacinski and freshman Daniel Rayl posting 3-1 records in the singles play, leading the way for the team. Additionally, the Irish as a team went 3-1 on Sunday in doubles play to round out the tournament after getting off to a 3-9 start.
Notre Dame will return to the courts when they open their regular season on January 16, welcoming Michigan State and Youngstown State to Eck Tennis Pavilion.
