SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame Men’s Tennis team opens up dual match play for their spring season tomorrow at home. The Irish will take on the DePaul Blue Demons, who are the two-time defending Big East Champions, at 11 a.m. Following the first match, they will return to the courts to battle the IUPUI Jaguars at approximately 2:30 p.m.
The weekend will continue on the road as the men’s team will take a short road trip to face both Northwestern and Chicago State on Sunday, January 15th. Last year, the same doubleheader was played at home with the results being split between a 4-2 loss to the Wildcats and a 4-0 win over the Cougars.
The Irish will be led by a core of returning upperclassmen including graduate student Addy Vashistha and seniors Matt Che, Connor Fu, Matt Halpin and Braeden Ho. Jean-Marc Malkowski also returns as a junior to lead the veterans. Freshman Sebastian Dominko made a great impact during his first fall campaign and comes into the spring ranked #17 in the ITA Singles National Rankings, the highest-ever ranking for a Notre Dame freshman at any point during their first year. With Dominko’s ranking included, Notre Dame will have 5 players returning who have appeared in the national rankings in either singles or doubles.
Last Time Out
Last year, the Irish hosted the Blue Demons in the final regular season match of the season and came out victorious with a 5-2 win. After taking the doubles point, quick wins at #5, #3 and #2 singles would seal the victory. Che would tack on the 5th point for the Irish in his first career victory at the #1 singles position.
Notre Dame and IUPUI have not met since spring of 2019 where the Irish took the 5-2 win. That match took place before any current Notre Dame player was on the team so it will be the first dual match meeting for all the Irish competitors against the Jaguars.
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