No. 36 Notre Dame dominated with back-to-back 6-1 wins in a doubleheader against Georgia Tech and Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) on Sunday at Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Coming off a 4-3 loss Tuesday to Texas Tech and a 6-1 loss on Friday to No. 9 Virginia, the Irish (10-7, 2-3 ACC) rebounded with many strong performances, Irish head coach Ryan Sachire said.
“We had a pretty busy week, playing Texas Tech on St. Patrick’s Day and Virginia, who is perennially one of the top teams in the country, on Friday. The entire week was a huge process; we had some disappointments but did a lot of good things towards the end of it,” Sachire said. “It was fun to see everything come together. We were certainly happy with yesterday’s win.”
In the match against the Yellow Jackets, the No. 8 duo nationally of junior Alex Lawson and senior Billy Pecor snagged an 8-6 win against Georgia Tech’s pair of sophomore Carlos Benito and senior Eduardo Segura. The No. 14 pair of Irish sophomores Eddy Covalschi and Josh Hagar earned another victory over Yellow Jacket freshmen Michael Kay and Christopher Eubanks, 8-4. In the singles round, Hagar, Pecor and junior No. 22 Quentin Monaghanall scored wins for the Irish against Benito, sophomore Cole Fiegel and Eubanks, respectively. Covalschi also topped junior Nathan Rakitt, 6-4, 6-2.
The match against IPFW saw a change in the Irish lineup as other members of the team stepped on to the court.
Seniors Dougie Barnard and Michael Fredericka clinched a 7-5 win over Mastondons' senior Andres Cobos and freshman Daniel Cardenas while the Irish duo consisting of freshman Drew Dawson and senior Wyatt McCoy topped seniors Connor Andrews and Derek Romer. Notre Dame took five of the six matches in the singles round with victories from Hagar, junior Nicolas Montoya, Fredericka, and freshman Brendon Kempin. Monaghan completed a weekend sweep after defeating junior Gerard Guell, 6-1, 6-2.
“It was definitely the most complete match of the year [since] we played everyone on the roster,” Sachire said. “We played at a great level at every spot in the lineup. A lot of the guys had been working hard individually but weren’t seeing the result. Yesterday was a great day to see us come together as a team.”
With only a month until the ACC Championships, the Irish hope to use the upcoming matches to come out as strong contenders, Sachire said.
“It’s all about staying healthy, getting players 100 percent physically ready to go as well as preparing mentally,” Sachire said. “The ACC is a competitive conference, but we are excited to be in it and hopeful to have a great experience.”
The Irish will travel to Florida for an action-packed weekend with conference matches against Miami on Friday at 2 p.m. and Florida State on Sunday at noon.
“Every weekend is difficult, but we are looking forward to this one in particular,” Sachire said. “The weather is a lot different, a lot hotter, but hopefully our physical conditioning will help us prepare.”
