Dec. 12, 2017

By Joanne Norell

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – University of Notre Dame men’s tennis senior Brendon Kempin and junior Alex Lebedev have been selected as captains to lead the Irish during the 2018 season, Callaghan Family Head Men’s Tennis Coach Ryan Sachire announced.

Both will be serving in the captain’s role for the first time.

“I am extremely proud to have Brendon and Alex representing our program by serving as team captains for the upcoming 2018 season,” Sachire said. “Throughout their careers to this point, both have exhibited strong leadership traits in various ways. They complement one another very well, and I am confident that they will do a great job serving their teammates in this capacity.”

Kempin broke into the starting lineup in 2017 as a junior, playing primarily in doubles and putting together a 20-13 overall (14-7 dual) doubles mark. He is 38-32 in his career in doubles through 2017’s fall tournaments, and 32-32 in singles. A two-year participant in the Rosenthal Leadership Academy, he was named to the All-ACC Academic Team following last season.

Lebedev – who is also a two-time Rosenthal participant – is coming off a remarkable fall campaign in which he went 8-4 in singles (including 3-2 against ranked opponents) and competed at both fall collegiate grand slam tournaments. After winning the ITA Summer National Championship, Lebedev earned a wild card bid to the ITA All-American Championships where he advanced to the Round of 16. He later capped the fall with a Round of 16 appearance in the ITA National Fall Championships. He enters the spring ranked No. 45 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Singles rankings. Lebedev owns a career 32-26 singles record and 29-16 doubles mark.

Notre Dame returns to action when the dual season commences in January. The Irish will hit the court at 5 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2018, when they welcome Michigan State to the Eck Tennis Pavilion.

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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, women’s tennis and fencing programs, in addition to 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.