After opening up the season 10-2, the Notre Dame men’s tennis team has suffered a six-game losing skid en route to a 0-6 start to ACC play. They most recently finished a two-match road trip in California, suffering losses to conference newcomers Stanford and Cal. With 10 teams in the top 50 and six in the top 15, the Atlantic Coast Conference is loaded in 2025. The competition doesn’t get any easier this weekend for the Irish, as they return to South Bend for a matchup with No. 1 Wake Forest on Friday and No. 5 NC State in the front end of a doubleheader on Sunday. The evening match that day will be a non-conference clash with St. Bonaventure.
Now ranked No. 33 in the country amongst singles competitors, junior Sebastian Dominko has been in top form of late, going undefeated in his last eight matches, including all six ACC contests. Alongside his team-best 14-2 doubles record, the Slovenian lefty has been Notre Dame’s rock despite the team’s early struggles in conference play. Sophomore Chase Thompson was a welcome return to the lineup over the weekend after missing three matches with an injury. He improved to 10-2 on the season after splitting his two matches on the California trip, losing a 6-4, 6-4 battle against Stanford before taking down Cal in straight sets.
Wake Forest
Sitting at 24-0 on the season and 6-0 in ACC play, the Demon Deacons are the lone undefeated team in the country and the undisputed best. After an historic 2024 Final Four run, the third in program history, they look primed for another deep run this season. The 2025 ITA National Team Indoor Champions are coming off of a 3-0 weekend with a 4-2 victory over No. 34 Miami and clean sweeps of No. 32 Florida State and NC A&T.
Sitting at 10-4 on the season and 3-1 in ACC play, DK Suresh ranks sixth in the national singles rankings. He has shared the No. 1 spot on the team with No. 12-ranked Stefan Dostanic, who boasts a 6-2 record on the season. Over the weekend, the graduate took court one against Miami, where his match with No. 41-ranked Martin Katz was stopped early in the third set with the score knotted at 1-1. Suresh took over at No. 1 against Florida State and took a straight-set win over No. 14-ranked Corey Craig. The two top singles performers have teamed up to form the No. 5-ranked doubles pairing in the country as well, going 8-1 overall and 4-1 against nationally ranked opponents. The combination of Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow has been even better, however. The No. 3-ranked partnership sits at 13-2 on the season with a 4-1 conference record.
NC State
Two days after facing No. 1, the Irish run into the No. 5 NC State Wolfpack, who sit at 14-4 on the season. They are off to a 5-0 start to conference play and have won their last seven matches. Their 18-7 record in 2024 earned them an NCAA Tournament berth, where they suffered a heartbreaking 3-4 loss to South Carolina in round two. Over the weekend, they dominated at home with clean sweeps of Florida State and Miami. Ranked No. 26 in singles, Braden Shick takes court one for the Wolfpack, where he sits at 16-11 overall and 9-7 against nationally ranked opponents. On court two, Martin Borisiouk’s 13-6 record has earned him the No. 23 spot in the national rankings. Schick has also teamed up with Fons Van Sambeek to form the No. 9-ranked doubles pairing. The two are 15-5 on the season, going 4-2 in ACC play and winning eight of their last 10 matches. NC State’s second-court pairing of Luca Staeheli and Jules Leroux also cracks the top 25, boasting a 13-2 record. The two also enter the weekend playing their best tennis, going 4-1 in ACC play and winning eight of their last 10.
St. Bonaventure
The Bonnies have had a rough start to the season with their lone win coming back on Feb. 25 against Ashland. They sit at 1-11 for the year, taking only five points across their 11 losses. In 2024, they similarly struggled early before putting together late-season wins en route to an 11-13 record, and a 2-3 mark in Atlantic 10 conference play. They finished that season ranked ninth in the Division I ITA New England regional rankings and advanced to the second round of the conference championship for the second time in three years after a 4-1 first-round victory over St. John’s. They are amid a four-game losing skid most recently falling to Birmingham and Temple last weekend by scores of 6-1 and 4-1 respectively. They will take on Mercyhurst at home on Friday before traveling to South Bend for their matchup with the Irish.
Their singles lineup has struggled in 2025, posting a combined 18-85 record. Their top three singles courts have gone a combined 6-25 and will have their hands full against the surging Dominko and Thompson. The doubles courts have fared much better for the Bonnies, albeit still with a losing record of 20-33 for the season. Their best pairing, Chase Cahill-Welsh and Connor Turner, has managed a .500 record, going 5-5, but has lost their last four matches.
The Irish will host No. 1 Wake Forest on Friday at 5 p.m. before their Sunday doubleheader against NC State at 11 a.m. and St. Bonaventure at 6 p.m. in Eck Tennis Pavilion.
