Feb. 3, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Sitting at 4-2 after a pair of top-30 losses, the No. 30 Notre Dame men’s tennis team heads to North Carolina this weekend for two top-40 contests with ACC members Wake Forest and Duke.
The Irish make their first stop in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Friday evening to meet the Demon Deacons at 7 p.m. Notre Dame then battles the Blue Devils at 12 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday.
Wake Forest (4-1) are coming off the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Gainesville, Fla., where they knocked off ACC rival Miami, 4-3, before falling to No. 5 Florida, 6-1. The match is available to follow via live stats here, and will take place at the Indoor Tennis Center.
The Demon Deacons boast one ranked singles player in Danny Kreyman (No. 115).
Duke (3-0) took down VCU and Washington at last weekend’s ITA Kickoff Weekend to advance to the Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., later this month. Live results can be followed , and a live blog can be followed here. For fans that would like to purchase live video, information can be found here.
The Blue Devils have a remarkable for four ranked players, including Henrique Cunha (No. 7), Chris Mengel (No. 17), Fred Saba (No. 110) and Raphael Hemmeler (No. 120). In doubles, Mengel and Cunha are ranked 26th, Saba and Hemmeler are ranked 40th.
Notre Dame is coming off a weekend where it lost to No. 29 Indiana, 6-1, before taking No. 44 Cornell, 4-2. Sophomore Greg Andrews continues to lead the Irish at No. 2 singles, as the Richland, Mich., native sits at 6-0 on the year, with all six victories coming in straight sets.
To find success this weekend, the Irish need to get back to winning the doubles point. In the first three matches of the year Notre Dame won the doubles point and went on to win each match, 7-0. In the last three matches the Irish have dropped the doubles point and gone 1-2 in those matches.
Following the weekend matches, the Irish travel to Northwestern on Tuesday, before returning home for a full slate of matches next weekend.
–ND–