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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Irish compete at Gopher Dynamic Duo Invitational

The Notre Dame men’s tennis team sealed 18 combined wins this past weekend in singles and doubles play at the Gopher Dynamic Duo Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. Eight Irish players helped to power the impressive showing with wins coming from seniors Guillermo Cabrera, Matt Gamble and Conor Somers, freshmen Braeden Ho, Matt Che and Connor Fu, junior Paul Gota and sophomore Andrew Mariados. Matt Che had an especially outstanding performance, going undefeated in his singles matches with a record of 4-0.

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Notre Dame senior Matt Gamble returns the ball during Notre Dame's match against Boston College on Feb. 8
Notre Dame senior Matt Gamble returns the ball during Notre Dame's match against Boston College on Feb. 8


In round one, Fu defeated freshman Robin Parks of Wisconsin 7-6, 7-6. Fu’s doubles partner, Ho, would win his match over sophomore Jared Pratt of Wisconsin 7-6, 7-6 as well. The duo of Fu and Ho would be victorious over Pratt and Parks in doubles, winning 6-3. The doubles pairing of Gamble and Gota would go on to win their doubles match despite losing in singles, beating the team of senior Vuk Budic and redshirt freshman Alex Bancila of Illinois 6-3. Both Cabrera and Che needed three sets to settle their opening round matches. Cabrera defeated Denver’s junior Mattia Ros 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 and Che defeated sophomore Daniel Krulig of Denver 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Che and Cabrera paired up in doubles to beat their singles opponents again, winning 6-3 over Krulig and Ros. Mariados picked up the fifth Irish singles win of the day, beating Marquette senior Brett Meyers 6-2, 6-2. 

Wins were harder to come by in the second and third round; the Irish only picked up five wins out of the 23 combined singles and doubles matches. In round two, Che won his singles match over Northwestern’s sophomore Simen Bratholm 7-6, 6-2. Gota picked up the other Notre Dame win, beating freshman Russell Berdusco of Northwestern 7-6, 6-4. In round three, Che won over Minnesota sophomore Sebastian Vile 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (7), Gamble defeated Robin Parts of Wisconsin 6-3, 7-5, and the doubles team of Mariados and Somers were victorious, winning 6-4 over the Northwestern pairing of junior AJ Joshi and freshman Natan Spear.

In the final round of the invite, Che picked up his fourth singles win, defeating Minnesota’s junior Kaleb Dobbs 6-4, 6-4. Che and Cabrera paired again to win their doubles match 6-3 over the freshmen Minnesota team of Siim Troost and Daniel Martin. Gamble and Gota won the other doubles match for the Irish in round four, beating Krulig and Ros of Denver 7-6. Mariados and Somers rounded out the victories with Mariados winning 6-4, 6-1 over freshman Bruno Serra of Wichita State, and Somers defeating freshman Zach Grueber of Wichita State 7-5, 6-1.

The Irish will head into the offseason on a high note as they will shut down play until mid-January, when their spring season will begin.