Last weekend, the 35th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team hosted two ACC matches to finish off the regular season, losing 2-4 to No. 5 Virginia (18-2, 12-0 ACC) Friday and coming away with a victory 4-0 against No. 29 Virginia Tech (11-8, 6-6 ACC) Sunday. At the season’s conclusion, the Irish (14-9, 7-5 ACC) now sit in 5th place for the upcoming ACC Championships.
The match versus the Cavaliers proved to be a tightly contested one, as the doubles point would be decided in a final tiebreaking match and four of the six singles matches went to a deciding third set. The Irish picked up the first match of the day at three doubles, with the pairing of sophomore Matthew Che and senior Richard Ciamarra winning 6-2 over junior Ryan Goetz and senior Matthew Lord.
Despite Notre Dame’s quick start, the Cavaliers stormed back, taking the two doubles position with freshman Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg and freshman Inaki Montes winning 6-4 over senior William Howells and graduate student Brandon Ancona. Virginia sealed the doubles point with a victory at the ones doubles position as junior Axel Nefve and senior Tristan McCormick fell to junior William Woodall and freshman Chris Rodesch 7-6.
In singles, senior Gianni Ross defeated Che on court four 6-2, 6-2 to give Virginia a 2-0 lead. Notre Dame closed the gap with a win at one singles as the 35th-ranked Nefve dispatched 24th-ranked Von Der Schulenburg 6-3, 7-6. The Cavaliers widened their lead again to 3-1 as 49th-ranked Montes defeated Ciamarra 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 at two singles.
The Irish brought the match back to within one with a win at six singles after William Howells defeated freshman Alexander Kiefer 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, but the Cavaliers sealed the match victory on court five when William Woodall clinched the victory in a third set against Connor Fu 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Against Virginia Tech, the Irish quickly claimed the doubles point. McCormick and Nefve defeated sophomore Jordan Chrysostom and freshman Ryan Fishback 6-3 before Ancona and Howells sealed the point with a victory over graduate students Mitch Harper and Alex Ribeiro 6-2.
In singles, Nefve put the Irish up 2-0 with a win over Harper 6-2, 6-4 at one singles. At the two singles position, Ciamarra widened the Irish lead to 3-0 with a win over sophomore Matthis Ross 6-2, 7-5. McCormick sealed the victory for the Irish at the three singles position with a win over Ribeiro 7-6, 6-3.
After the conclusion of the match, the Irish took time to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of this year’s graduating class. Matt Gamble, Brandon Ancona, Paul Gota, William Howells, Tristan McCormick and Richard Ciamarra were all recognized.
The Irish will next travel to Rome, Georgia, for the ACC Championships, which will take place April 21-25th.
