The No. 16 Irish came out on top again this weekend, topping Ball State and Wisconsin on Sunday in their first double-header of the season.
After an eight-day hiatus, Notre Dame (5-1) was able to easily dispatch its opponents Sunday, defeating the Cardinals, 7-0, and the Badgers, 6-1. Irish coach Ryan Sachire said that the extended rest let his team handle two matches in one day.
Irish junior Quentin Monaghan returns a shot during Notre Dame’s 4-3 win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 24 at Eck Tennis Pavilion.
“We had over a week off, which gave [the players] a chance to heal their bodies and train,” Sachire said. “There was a pretty big chunk of time to practice, and we really improved on the things we weren’t doing quite so well on during the past couple of weeks. It was a lot of tennis in one day physically and mentally, and I think we had some productive work. Our goal was to work physically harder and to build our confidence despite the fact it was a long day.”
The Irish kicked off the double-header against Ball State (2-5) with doubles victories from senior Billy Pecor and junior Alex Lawson in the No. 1 slot and seniors Dougie Bernard and Michael Fredericka in their debut at the No. 2 slot. The Irish domination continued into the singles round, where they swept all six slots. 37th-ranked junior Quentin Monaghan topped Cardinals sophomore Lucas Andersen, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 1 singles to lead the Irish, while junior Nicolas Montoya cruised through his match in his singles debut, defeating freshman Jan Jirus, 6-1, 6-1, in the fourth slot.
“Nicolas hadn’t played singles for us this season but played both singles rounds and got two victories,” Sachire said. “He’s really coming out for us.”
The Irish maintained their edge going into the matches against Wisconsin (1-5) as Lawson and Pecor managed their second doubles victory of the day in the No. 1 slot while Monaghan and Schnurrenberger also secured a win at the No. 3 slot. In the singles round, Monaghan and junior Eric Schnurrenberger came out on top in the No. 1 and No. 4 spots respectively, with both ending the day undefeated in all matches.
“Quentin had two straight set wins at No. 1 singles and at that level of competition, when you play No. 1 singles for the team it’s intense,” Sachire said. “What he did was certainly a confidence boost for him as well as the team.”
82nd-ranked sophomore Josh Hagar took down Badgers freshman Lamar Remy, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 2 slot, while sophomore Eddy Covalschi won his match at No.3 singles. In the No. 6 slot, Montoya managed his second win of the day, while Pecor struggled through his singles match and fell for the first time this season.
“We try to stay as consistent as we can with our preparation and our mindset,” Sachire said. “We were really trying to play the best tennis we could and compete in a manner that was focusing on the prospect of winning rather than match-to-match victories, and I can see we are getting better and better because of it.”
The Irish will return to action Saturday when they travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to face No. 47 Michigan.
