Feb. 23, 2017
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team will take the courts of the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Sunday when the Irish welcome Indiana for a non-conference matchup.
Match 11
WHO: Notre Dame (7-3) vs. No. 13 Northwestern (10-3)
WHERE: Eck Tennis Pavilion | Notre Dame, Ind.
WHEN: 6 p.m. ET Friday
RESULTS: | WatchND Live Stream
On The Wildcats
- The Wildcats enter the match with a 10-3 record and dropped from No. 7 to No. 13 in this week’s Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s Tennis Rankings. Northwestern lost in each of its last three matches, all taking place at last weekend’s ITA National Team Indoor Championships to then-No. 12 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Oklahoma and No. 16 Mississippi State.
- Two Wildcats are featured in this week’s national singles poll: No. 28 Strong Kirchheimer (7-3) and No. 40 Konrad Zieba (11-1). In doubles, Kirchheimer and Dominik Starý (10-2) joined the rankings at No. 51 this week.
- The Irish own a 45-38-1 record in the all-time series against Northwestern, including 1-1 under Callaghan Family Head Men’s Tennis Coach Ryan Sachire. Last season, the Wildcats defeated the Irish 6-1 in Evanston, Illinois.
Last Time Out
The Irish hosted Indiana last Sunday, defeating the Hoosiers 7-0 at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish won the doubles point and then the first four singles matches in straight sets to take a 5-0 lead, then saw freshman Matt Gamble and senior Josh Hagar win in three sets to complete the sweep. Gamble improved to 8-2 on the season, while sophomore Alex Lebedev boosted his record to 6-1 and freshman Johnathan Small remained undefeated at 5-0.
On The Horizon
Seniors Josh Hagar is two singles wins away from reaching 70 in his career, while classmate Eddy Covalschi needs four to reach his 60th career singles win. The Irish are four wins away from reach the 1,200th dual win in program history.
Rankings Rundown
The Irish also boast two players in the individual rankings. Seniors Josh Hagar and Eddy Covalschi remained ranked No. 6 in the most recent Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s Tennis doubles rankings, having gone 16-4 on the season, including 6-1 in dual play this spring. Hagar ranks 44th nationally in singles.
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.