On Thursday, the Notre Dame men’s tennis team will hit the road for a pair of ACC contests in the Sunshine State. They will take on No. 19 Florida State on Thursday evening before facing No. 33 Miami two days later.
Irish coming off a strong weekend
The Irish come off their first win in conference play on Sunday, a 4-0 sweep of Virginia Tech, which they followed with another sweep later in the day of non-conference foe Southern Indiana. They fell short against No. 6 Virginia but pushed a talented Cavalier squad to the brink in the 4-3 loss.
Junior Sebastian Dominko continued to lead the way coming off of his third ACC Player of the Week honor of the season. Ranked No. 18 in the nation for singles, the Slovenian lefty extended his undefeated streak to eight matches after taking down another nationally ranked player: Virginia’s No. 23 Dylan Dietrich. The victory improved his record in dual matches to 17-2 and 8-0 in conference competitions, all at No. 1 singles. Playing alongside sophomore Chase Thompson, he also improved his record to 18-3 in doubles play with wins over Virginia and Virginia Tech.
The freshmen pairing of Peter Nad and Luis Llorens Saracho stayed undefeated in the spring season after a 3-0 weekend on the No. 3 doubles court. The Irish carry positive momentum on the singles courts as well, where they went 11-4 across their three-weekend matches. At No. 2 singles, Yu Zhang extended his win streak to five matches with an undefeated weekend. After wins against Virginia and Virginia Tech, the senior capped it off with a victory on the No. 1 court against Southern Indiana to celebrate his final match at Eck Tennis Pavilion on senior day.
Florida State
In his 23 seasons at the helm, head coach Dwayne Hultquist has propelled Florida State into one of the nation’s best programs. In the 2023-24 season, his Seminoles defeated Virginia to become ACC Champions before their season ended in the third round of the NCAA tournament. They have continued to be competitive in a stacked Atlantic Coast Conference in 2025, boasting a 14-7 record and 6-4 mark in conference play.
The conference champs returned six players, including four seniors, along with incoming transfers Corey Craig and Erik Schiessl, both of whom have emerged as key contributors to the new-look squad. Craig features at the top of Florida State’s singles lineup, ranking No. 15 in the country and posting a 7-3 record in dual matches. Schiessl paces the team in doubles competition, recording a 10-1 record in dual matches on the No. 2 court alongside Joshua Dous-Karpenschif.
The Seminoles’ top team of Youcef Rihane and Alex Bulte owns a 9-5 dual record and ranks No. 9 in the country. Slotting in behind Craig on the No. 2 singles court, the No. 52-ranked Jamie Connel has 11 wins, a team-best. The bottom half of the Seminoles’ singles lineup, which has combined to go 30-15, is manned by Schiessl, Dous-Karpenschif and Azariah Rusher, with rookie Jan Sebesta posting a 3-1 record in his few opportunities at No. 6 singles.
Florida State comes off a 2-0 weekend with a pair of road ACC wins. They rattled off four consecutive singles victories in a comeback win over No. 15 Duke before sweeping North Carolina two days later. They will look to ride that momentum into their Thursday matchup with the Irish. Florida State owns a 9-4 all-time record against Notre Dame and has won their last eight matchups.
Miami
In his first season at the helm, head coach Alex Santos’ Miami Hurricanes hold the No. 33 spot in the national rankings, boasting an 11-8 overall and 4-6 ACC record. The Hurricanes bring back three players from their 2024 team that went 11-14 and had their season end in the second round of the ACC championships, missing the cut for the NCAA tournament.
The trio of returners, Martin Katz, Antonio Prat and Nacho Serra Sanchez pace the singles lineup on courts one, two and three, respectively. The No. 24-ranked Katz is 11-3 for the season with a 4-2 conference record and has won his last three matches. Prat and Serra Sanchez have earned nine wins apiece but without the same success in conference, combining for a 4-7 record against ACC opponents. A trio of newcomers have rotated through courts four through six for Miami, with freshmen Jules Garot and Mehdi Sadaoui contributing alongside sophomore Furman transfer Leonardo Dal Boni.
Katz and Prat also team up to form the No. 72 doubles pairing on the top court for Miami where they own a 10-5 dual record. Dal Boni joins Serra Sanchez on court two, recording an 8-6 mark. The rookie partnership of Garot and Sadaoui round out the lineup at No. 3, posting a 5-7 mark as a duo.
Miami comes off a pair of heartbreaking 4-3 losses to North Carolina and Duke and will face Louisville on Thursday before hosting the Irish two days later in Coral Gables, Florida. They fell 4-1 to Notre Dame last season in South Bend.
Notre Dame will make the Tallahassee trip on Thursday to face the Seminoles at 5:30 p.m. before heading downstate to take on Miami on Saturday at noon.
