At 6-1 on the young spring season, the Notre Dame men’s tennis team did not compete last weekend and will return to the court with two home matches this Saturday. The Irish will take on William and Mary at 10 a.m. before hosting Northern Illinois at 3 p.m.
To this point, Notre Dame has played all seven of its contests at home, winning each of the last four. The Irish last squared off against Cleveland State and Illinois State on Jan. 26, defeating both opponents by a 6-1 score.
Notre Dame’s No. 1 doubles team remains its best heading into Saturday, as junior Sebastian Dominko and freshman Peter Nad have combined to post a 4-1 record. In singles play, the 28th-ranked Dominko holds a 5-1 mark in the No. 1 position, while Nad and sophomore Chase Thompson have buttressed Notre Dame’s depth with matching 5-1 records.
William and Mary
Notre Dame’s first opponent of the day has not yet played a match in 2025. The Tribe will open their season against Norfolk State on Wednesday before traveling to South Bend for their first full weekend of action.
William and Mary comes off a quality season in which its finished above .500 for the third time in the last four full seasons. Going 13-10, the Tribe won a CAA Tournament match and garnered their highest ITA Atlantic Region ranking since 2016, active head coach Jeff Kader’s first season.
Kader’s team, which features four freshmen, will operate around Oliver Hague. The sophomore from Manchester, England, captured CAA Rookie of the Year honors last year, going 24-9 in singles play. He also headlined the Tribe’s accomplishments throughout the fall, reaching the round of 16 in the main singles draw of the ITA Atlantic Region Championships in October and winning the UTR tournament in November.
Hague is the only returner among the five William and Mary All-CAA selections from last season. Senior Alexander Karman and junior Albert Hansen enter the new season with the most experience beyond him.
Northern Illinois
The Huskies are five games into their spring season and own a record of 3-2. They’ve defeated IU Indianapolis, Eastern Illinois and Judson, losing to Purdue and, most recently, Illinois State, along the way.
Northern Illinois put forth a fabulous regular season last year before exiting early in the MAC Tournament. The Huskies went 18-6 overall, including a 7-3 record inside of conference play. They rolled out two different win streaks of six games or longer, including a nine-game run that began at the end of January.
The Northern Illinois roster boasts significant international diversity, with eight of its 10 players hailing from countries outside the United States. Spaniards Iker Gaztambide Arrastia and Saul Berdullas comprise the Huskies’ top two singles players. Berdullas was the MAC Freshman of the Year last season and is 3-2 this season, while Gaztambide Arrastia is 3-2 as the usual No. 1 contestant. The latter combines with Italian Federico Scotuzzi to form a strong No. 1 doubles pairing that is 4-0 this year.
