April 6, 2017
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team heads to the state of Florida for a televised match-up against Florida State on Friday before closing out the weekend at Miami on Friday.
Match 20
WHO: Notre Dame (11-8, 2-4 ACC) vs. Florida State (13-7, 3-3 ACC)
WHERE: Speicher Tennis Center | Tallahassee, Fla.
WHEN: 5:30 p.m. ET Friday
WATCH: ACC Network Extra | WatchESPN App
Match 21
WHO: Notre Dame vs. Miami (6-9, 0-6 ACC)
WHERE: Neil Schiff Tennis Center | Coral Gables, Fla.
WHEN: Noon ET Sunday
RESULTS:
On The Seminoles
- Florida State enters the match with a 13-7 record and a No. 30 national ranking, but has lost its last three matches to Central Florida, North Carolina and Duke.
- No. 71 Aziz Dougaz (9-6 in duals) and No. 78 Guy Iradukunda (11-6) pace the Seminoles in the rankings, while Lucas Poullain (13-5), Rana Roop Bhullar (10-4) and Jose Gracia (10-3) also boast double-digit singles wins. Gracia and Poullain are also ranked No. 89 in doubles (11-6 record).
- Notre Dame is 8-3 in the all-time series against Florida State and 2-1 under Callaghan Family Head Men’s Tennis Coach Ryan Sachire. Last season, the Seminoles edged the Irish in a 4-3 decision at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
- The match will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra and the WatchESPN platforms.
On The Hurricanes
- After starting the season 6-3, Miami has lost its last six matches heading into the weekend. The Hurricanes will face Boston College in Coral Gables on Friday before the Irish come to town.
- Miami is led by No. 51 Piotr Lomacki, who is 8-6 on the season. No other Hurricane has a winning singles record. In doubles, No. 56 Max Andrews and Jesse Flores lead the ‘Canes in the rankings, posting a 5-4 mark. Lomacki and and Nile Clark lead the team in wins, however, with a 9-2 record.
- Dating back to their days in the BIG EAST, Notre Dame and Miami have met on 20 previous occasions, with the Irish holding an 11-9 advantage in the series. The Irish have won the last six meetings and three in the last three seasons since Notre Dame joined the ACC. The last meeting before the 2013-14 season came in 2004.
Last Time Out
The Irish went 1-2 last weekend at home, dropping a pair of tight 4-3 matches to NC State and Georgia Tech on Friday and Sunday, respectively, before sweeping past IUPUI 7-0 in Sunday’s weekend finale. The win over the Jaguars was the program’s 1,200th.
Rankings Rundown
The Irish also boast two players in the most recent Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s Tennis Rankings. Seniors Josh Hagar and Eddy Covalschi came in at No. 24 in the most recent doubles rankings, having gone 19-7 on the season, including 9-4 in dual play this spring. Hagar comes in at No. 54 in this week’s singles rankings.
Keeping Up With The Irish
All indoor home matches will be streamed live on WatchND. Live scoring will be available for all home tennis matches at UND.com, with links for each match available on the men’s tennis schedule page. Live match updates will also be shared on the team’s Twitter account, @NDMensTennis.
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For the latest on all things Irish men’s tennis, follow @NDMensTennis on Twitter and like Notre Dame Men’s Tennis on Facebook.
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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 women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.