March 29, 2018
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team returns to the road this weekend, facing two top opponents in No. 29 NC State and No. 1 Wake Forest in North Carolina.
Match 22
WHO: No. 25 Notre Dame (12-9, 3-2 ACC) vs. No. 29 NC State (11-5, 1-4 ACC)
WHERE: J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center | Raleigh, N.C.
WHEN: 5 p.m. ET Friday
Live Stats
Match 23
WHO: No. 25 Notre Dame vs. No. 1 Wake Forest (15-1, 4-1 ACC)
WHERE: Wake Forest Tennis Complex | Winston-Salem, N.C.
WHEN: Noon ET Sunday
Live Stream/Stats
Last Time Out
After falling to No. 5 North Carolina last Friday, the Irish bounced back with a doubleheader sweep over Virginia Tech (7-0) and IUPUI (6-1) on Sunday.
On The Wolfpack
North Carolina State comes into Friday’s matchup with an 11-5 record, with four of five losses coming in the Wolfpack’s last five matches. NC State is paced by 24th-ranked Alexis Galarneau, who is 7-7 at No. 1 singles. The Wolfpack also claim two ranked doubles teams in No. 53 Igor and Ivan Saveljic (6-9) and No. 63 Galarneau and Michael Ogden (3-2).
Notre Dame is 4-2 all time against NC State, including 2-2 under Callaghan Family Head Men’s Tennis Coach Ryan Sachire. In the teams’ last meeting, the Wolfpack defeated the Irish 3-4 at the Courtney Tennis Center
On The Demon Deacons
Wake Forest has sat atop the national college tennis rankings all season, having started the season with 14 straight wins. The Demon Deacons’ only loss came to then-No. 20 Florida State in a 4-3 decision on March 25 in Tallahassee, but they came back to defeat No. 5 North Carolina 4-3 on Wednesday in Chapel Hill.
The Deacons boast five ranked singles players: No. 7 Petros Chrysocos, No. 29 Borna Gojo, No. 30 Skander Mansouri, No. 95 Yuval Solomon and No. 108 Christian Seraphim. They also have three doubles squads ranked in the top 50: No. 2 Chrysocos/Seraphim, No. 24 Julian Zlobinsky/Seraphim and No. 44 Gojo/Mansouri. Notre Dame is 5-3 all-time against Wake Forest, including 2-3 under Sachire.
Rankings Rundown
The Irish came in at No. 25 in this week’s Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Team Rankings, up one spot since last week’s poll release.
Junior Alex Lebedev comes in at No. 48 in singles in the most recent ITA rankings. Senior-freshman duo of Brendon Kempin and Tristan McCormick rank at No. 80 in doubles.
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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 and fencing programs, in addition to assisting with football communications and 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.