Irish Fall In First Outdoor Match at No. 14 Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team played their first match outdoors of the spring dual season today in Charlottesville, Virginia. The #21 ranked Irish fell at the hands of #14 Virginia 6-1 in the opening match of the weekend road trip.

The doubles point went to the Cavaliers with wins at #3 and then #2 to secure the early lead on the scoreboard. Newly ranked doubles team Matthew Che and Axel Nefve were leading the #11 doubles team in the country 5-4 when play was abandoned and they went into singles play.

The home team jumped to a quick lead in singles winning five of six first sets and would keep the momentum in a number of matches. #44 ranked Nefve battled #15 ranked Chris Rodesch at the top position. After dropping the first set, Nefve pushed back in the second set, breaking a couple of times to even things up and extend the set before falling 6-4, 7-6.

Veteran player Peter Conklin was the last man on the court as he took on his opponent at #5 singles. After trading multiple breaks of serve in the first set, Conklin would win the first 6-4. In the second set, he secured an early break and would hold out to serve for the match at 5-4 in the second. But he would lose serve for the only time in that set and have to rebound to finish a 6-4, 7-6 victory to give the Irish their lone point on the day.

Up Next:

The Irish will head to Blacksburg for a conference battle with Virginia Tech to wrap up their spring break trip. The match will being at 12pm on Sunday.

Box Score

#14 Virginia 6 – #21 Notre Dame 1

Doubles

1. #42 Che/Nefve(ND) vs. #11 Goetz/Rodesch(UVA) 5-4 Did Not Finish
2. Woodall/Ross(UVA) def. Conklin/Halpin(ND) 6-2
3. Montes de la Torre/Kiefer(UVA) def. Fu/Malkowski(ND) 6-3

Singles

1. #15 Rodesch(UVA) def. #44 Nefve(ND) 6-4, 7-6(3)
2. #46 Montes de la Torre(UVA) def. Vashistha(ND) 6-3, 6-2
3. #54 Goetz(UVA) def. Che(ND) 6-1, 6-2
4. Ross(UVA) def. Fu(ND) 6-3, 6-3
5. Conklin(ND) def. Woodall(UVA) 6-4, 7-6(4)
6. Kiefer(UVA) def. Malkowski(ND) 6-1, 6-1

Order of finish: Doubles(1, 2); Singles (6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 5)