Irish Fall in Two Top-25 Matches in ACC Opener

NOTRE DAME, Indiana — The Notre Dame Men’s Tennis team opened ACC play with two top-25 battles on the road, Friday and Sunday afternoons. The Irish fell in two hard-fought battles, losing to No. 13 Wake Forest on Friday night before dropping to No. 17 NC State on Sunday.

On Friday evening, No. 6 Richard Ciamarra paced the Irish with a ranked victory over No. 107 Taha Baadi of Wake Forest. The Irish lost two three-set tiebreakers in singles to give the Demon Deacons a difficult 6-1 win.

In a battle of two top-10-ranked singles players on Sunday, NC State’s Alexis Galameau proved victorious over No. 6 Richard Ciamarra, earning a  6-0, 6-1 victory. Axel Nefve and Connor Fu would secure singles wins to put the Irish on the board to make the final 5-2.

#13 Wake Forest 6, Notre Dame 1

Singles competition

1. Henri Squire (WF) def. Axel Nefve (ND) 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-1
2. #6 Richard Ciamarra (ND) def. #107 Taha Baadi (WF) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2)
3. Eduardo Nava (WF) def. Matthew Che (ND) 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
4. Filippo Moroni (WF) def. Connor Fu (ND) 6-3, 7-5
5. Melios Efstathiou (WF) def. Jean-Marc Malkowski (ND) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
6. #92 Rrezart Cungu (WF) def. Braeden Ho (ND) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)

Doubles competition

1. #18 Eduardo Nava/Henri Squire (WF) def. Axel Nefve/Richard Ciamarra (ND) 6-3
2. Taha Baadi/Adam Ambrozy (WF) def. Willliam Howells/Matt Gamble (ND) 6-0
3. Siddhant Banthia/Matthew Thomson (WF) vs. Jean-Marc Malkowski/Matthew Che (ND) 4-3, unfinished

#17 NC State 5, Notre Dame Men’s Tennis 2 

Singles competition 

1. #7 Alexis Galarneau (ST) def. #6 Richard Ciamarra (NDMTEN) 6-0, 6-1 
2. Axel Nefve (NDMTEN) def. Rafa Izquierdo Luque (ST) 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) 
3. #95 Tadas Babelis (ST) def. Matthew Che (NDMTEN) 6-2, 6-3 
4. Connor Fu (NDMTEN) def. Yannai Barkai (ST) 6-4, 6-3 
5. Robin Catry (ST) def. Jean-Marc Malkowski (NDMTEN) 6-3, 7-5 
6. Martins Rocens (ST) def. Braeden Ho (NDMTEN) 6-3, 6-0 

Doubles competition 

1. Richard Ciamarra/Axel Nefve (NDMTEN) def. Tadas Babelis/Robin Catry (ST) 6-1 
2. #23 Alexis Galarneau/Robert Turzak (ST) def. Matt Gamble/William Howells (NDMTEN) 6-3
3. Yannai Barkai/Collin Shick (ST) def. Matthew Che/Jean-Marc Malkowski (NDMTEN) 7-5

Next Up
The Irish will continue their ACC slate with a trip south to Louisville on Thursday, Feb. 25. The match is slated to begin at 4 p.m. ET

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