Notre Dame closed its regular season over the weekend when it hosted Clemson and No. 1 Wake Forest in conference matches at Courtney Tennis Center.
The Irish (13-12, 4-8 ACC) took down Clemson (9-15, 2-10 ACC) 6-1 Friday but dropped Sunday’s match against the Demon Deacons (25-1, 12-0 ACC) 5-2.
In the Senior Night match against the Tigers, the Irish won the doubles point after sophomore Alex Lebedev and freshman Matt Gamble won their match 6-3 and junior Brendon Kempin and sophomore Grayson Broadus secured their win 6-4.
Notre Dame carried its momentum into the singles matches, recording wins from freshman Guillermo Cabrera, senior Josh Hagar and freshman Johnathan Small. Senior Eddy Covalschi extended the 5-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-4 win, coming back from a 3-0 deficit at the beginning of the match.
Clemson’s only point of the night came from the final singles match as Clemson’s Daffra Sanon defeated Lebedev in a close 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) match.
Against Wake Forest, Hagar had the most successful day of his career, recording two top-three wins, one in his doubles match and the other in his singles match.
Broadus and Kempin started off strong in the first doubles match but ultimately fell to the Demon Deacons 6-3.
Hagar and Covalschi beat the country’s top-ranked doubles partners, topping Wake Forest’s Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim 7-5.
Gamble and Lebedev dug themselves out of a hole to hold their doubles match 5-5, but Wake Forest won the next two games to take the match and secure the doubles point.
The Demon Deacons extended their lead to 2-0 as Covalschi fell in his singles match 6-3, but Hagar brought the Irish back into it with his win over Wake Forest sophomore Petros Chrysochos. Hagar is 2-0 in his career against Chrysochos, also having beaten him in during last year’s ACC championships.
Wake Forest extended its lead to 4-1, clinching the next two matches. Cabrera played a competitive, comeback match to win 4-6, 7-5, 10-8, making the overall score 4-2, but the Irish dropped their final match to finish the night at 5-2.
Next up, the Irish will take on Louisville on Thursday in the second round of the ACC championship, hoping to continue through the weekend to Sunday’s championship.
The Irish lost to the Cardinals (20-8, 6-6) 4-3 during their regular season in March.
