Sept. 16, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team will once again face one of the nation’s most challenging schedules in 2015-16, highlighted by a spring slate that features a majority of opponents who finished last season ranked in the Oracle/ITA National Men’s Team Rankings.
The 2015-16 schedule, released Wednesday, features eight fall tournaments to gear up for a 24-match spring lineup that features 14 total foes that ended the 2015 spring season nationally ranked. Out of 12 Atlantic Coast Conference matchups, the Irish will face 10 opponents who ended the year among the top 75 teams in the nation.
The Irish – who finished last season with a 14-12 record, including a 6-6 mark in the ACC – will officially kick things off this weekend with three tournaments around the country. Seniors Quentin Monaghan and Alex Lawson, who enter the season ranked No. 28 in the national doubles rankings, will compete at the inaugural Oracle/ITA Master tournament in Malibu, California, with the pair competing in the elite eight-team doubles competition while Monaghan – ranked fifth in the Oracle/ITA singles poll – also takes part in the 16-player singles draw. The rest of the squad will split between The Ivy Plus Tournament at the Lenz Tennis Center at Princeton and the Duke Fab 4 at the Ambler Tennis Stadium at Duke. The following weekend, the Irish will travel to Alabama for the Crimson Tide Four in the Fall.
In October, seven Irish players will compete at the ITA All-American Championships at the University of Tulsa. Monaghan will compete in the main draw singles event, and will be an alternate for the doubles main draw with Lawson. Should the pair not automatically qualify for the main draw, they will compete in the qualifying draw. Lawson, freshman Alex Lebedev, sophomore Eddy Covalschi and seniors Eric Schnurrenberger, Kenneth Sabacinski and Nicolas Montoya will compete in prequalifying singles.
The Irish will then host the ITA Midwest Regional Championships from October 22-26 at the Eck Tennis Pavilion and Courtney Tennis Center. It will be the first time since 2010 Notre Dame has hosted the tournament, which serves as a qualifier for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships (November 12-15). Notre Dame will wrap the fall at the Bulldog Scramble (Nov. 13-15) at the Dan Magill Tennis Center at the University of Georgia.
After the holidays, the Irish will kick off their dual schedule with a doubleheader against Michigan State and Youngstown State (January 16, 2016) at home, and then will travel to Illinois for the ITA Kickoff Weekend (January 22-23). The Irish will continue their tour of Illinois when they take on Northwestern in Evanston (January 29), then return to Champaign to again take on the Illini (February 5).
Notre Dame will host six straight home matches, including two double headers to finish out the month of February, welcoming in-state foes Indiana and and Ball State (February 7); Michigan (February 13); Kentucky and Western Michigan (February 21); and Ohio State (February 28).
ACC play will begin at Boston College (March 3) before the Irish return home to face Louisville (March 6). Notre Dame will then travel to Clemson (March 11) and Wake Forest (March 13), then host Duke (March 18) and Miami (March 20). The Irish will wrap up March with a trip to reigning national champion Virginia (March 25) before heading south to visit Georgia Tech (March 27).
The Irish will get three straight matches at home to start April, hosting Florida State (April 1), Virginia Tech (April 3) and North Carolina (April 8) before wrapping up the regular season at NC State (April 17).
The ACC Championship will take place April 21-24 at the Cary Tennis Center in Cary, North Carolina. The first rounds of the NCAA Championship will begin May 8 at campus sites.
For the latest on all things Irish men’s tennis, follow @NDMensTennis on Twitter and like Notre Dame Men’s Tennis on Facebook.
Joanne Norell, Athletics Communications Assistant
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