April 22, 2018
By Joanne Norell
ANDERSON, S.C. – The 26th-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team finished the regular season with its third straight win – and fifth in six matches – defeating Clemson 5-2 Sunday at the AU Tennis Facility.
With the win, the Irish will receive either a No. 4, 5 or 6 seed in the ACC Championship. The seeding will be finalized after play concludes today.
How It Happened
The Irish (17-12, 7-5 ACC) found themselves challenged at the start, with all three doubles matches needing seven games to determine a winner. Though Clemson (10-12, 3-9 ACC) won first on Court 2, Notre Dame won next at the top of the lineup as No. 49 Brendon Kempin and Tristan McCormick downed No. 47 Alex Favrot and Simon Baudry 7-5. Then on Court 3, Guillermo Cabrera and Alex Lebedev prevailed over Sam Edwards and Marshall Dagostine in a tiebreaker, 7-6(4), to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame rolled in singles, however, winning first sets on four courts and taking the first three decisions in straight sets to clinch the match at 4-0. McCormick gave the Irish the first singles point, defeating Sam Edwards 6-2, 6-3 on Court 5 before Grayson Broadus downed Wes Quattlebaum 6-3, 6-2 on Court 6. Matt Gamble provided the clincher, defeating Carlos Kelaidis 6-4, 6-2 on Court 4.
Clemson won the next two matches, earning points on Courts 3 and 2, respectively. Notre Dame got the final point, though, as the 42nd-ranked Lebedev outlasted Baudry in the third-set tiebreaker on Court 1, 6-1, 5-7, 15-13, to close out the 5-2 victory.
The last time the Irish eclipsed 17 wins was during the 2013-14 season when the team went 21-10 and reached the NCAA tournament round of 16.
Up Next
Notre Dame will next head to the ACC Championships, taking place April 25-29 at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, North Carolina. The Irish will learn their seed and match-up later today once conference play concludes.
Scoreboard
No. 26 Notre Dame 5, Clemson 2
April 22, 2018
AU Tennis Facility
Anderson, S.C.
Singles
1. No. 42 Alex Lebedev (ND) def. Simon Baudry (CU) 6-1, 5-7, 15-13
2. No. 66 Alex Favrot (CU) def. No. 119 Richard Ciamarra (ND) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
3. Yizhou Liu (CU) def. Guillermo Cabrera (ND) 6-2, 6-2
4. Matt Gamble (ND) def. Carlos Kelaidis (CU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Tristan McCormick (ND) def. Sam Edwards (CU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Grayson Broadus (ND) def. Wes Quattlebaum (CU) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
1. No. 49 Brendon Kempin / Tristan McCormick (ND) def. No. 47 Alex Favrot / Simon Baudry (CU) 7-5
2. Yizhou Liu / Carlos Kelaidis (CU) def. Grayson Broadus / Richard Ciamarra (ND) 7-5
3. Guillermo Cabrera / Alex Lebedev (ND) def. Sam Edwards / Marshall Dagostine (CU) 7-6(4)
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Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame men’s tennis and fencing programs, in addition to assisting with football communications and overseeing production of the football Gameday Magazine. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.