April 9, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team will kick off its final homestand of the season this weekend when the No. 38 Fighting Irish face off with No. 70 Clemson on Friday
The Irish (12-9, 4-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) will host the final three matches of the regular season, facing the Tigers this weekend and welcoming Wake Forest and N.C. State the following weekend. Notre Dame and Clemson are set for a 3:30 p.m. EDT title on Friday at the Courtney Tennis Center.
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IRISH NOTABLES
CLIPPING CLEMSON: Friday’s will be the third meeting between Notre Dame and Clemson (10-13, 1-8 ACC) in the all-time series, with both previous meetings coming last season. The Irish snagged wins in both matches, first a 5-2 win at Clemson during the regular season, then a 4-2 victory in the second round of the ACC Championships. The Tigers enter this year’s matchup having lost five straight and seven of their last eight. Clemson is 5-8 on the road this season.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Irish will return home for their final three matches of the regular season, this weekend against Clemson and next Friday and Saturday against Wake Forest and N.C. State. Notre Dame is 8-4 at home this season and just 4-5 on the road.
WEATHER INTERFERENCE: With both Fighting Irish men’s and women’s tennis teams scheduled to play at 3:30 p.m. EDT at the Courtney Tennis Center, any inclement weather that forces the matches indoors will result in a slight scheduling change. Should the teams play inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion, the Irish men’s team will face off with Clemson at the original 3:30 p.m. EDT time, while the women’s match with No. 17 Miami will immediately follow.
RANKINGS UPDATE: In the latest ITA team poll (March 31) the Irish fell three spots to No. 38 after losses to then-No. 5 Duke (current No. 6) and then-No. 19 North Carolina (current No. 16).
A SINGULAR PERFORMER: In the latest ITA singles poll (April 7), junior Quentin Monaghan jumped seven spots to No. 10. During weekend matches at Duke and North Carolina, Monaghan notched a pair of top 15 wins, both in three sets over then-No. 11 Nicolas Alvarez (Duke) and then-No. 12 Brayden Schnur (North Carolina). He has won 10 straight matches and is 18-2 in dual matches this season and 27-5 overall. With his weekend sweep, Monaghan set a career high in single season singles wins and matched his career high in dual-match singles wins.
DOUBLES DOMINANCE: Notre Dame is one of just three programs with two doubles teams ranked in the ITA top 30, joining TCU and South Florida. The Irish entries, No. 12 Alex Lawson and Billy Pecor and No. 27 Eddy Covalschi and Josh Hagar are a combined 16-12 on the season, with Lawson and Pecor boasting an 8-3 record atop the Irish lineup in dual play.
SCORING FORMAT CHANGE: The Atlantic Coast Conference has moved to re-implement the regular scoring format utilized in 2014. Earlier this season, matches were played with no-ad scoring, based on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s recommendations for increasing pace of play. All conference matches will once again include an eight-game pro-set for the doubles point with a tiebreak at 7-7, and advantage scoring will be used. For men’s play, all doubles and singles matches will be played out unless agreed upon by both head coaches prior to the start of the match.
Joanne Norell, Media Relations Assistant
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