Duke Drops 5-2 Decision to Notre Dame

Friday, March 5

South Bend, Ind. / Courtney Tennis Center

3:30 p.m.

Duke University

Notre Dame

Luca Keist gets ready to hit the ball during Duke's match

Duke Drops 5-2 Decision to Notre Dame

3/5/2021 9:15:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Duke fell 5-2 Friday afternoon to Notre Dame inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion for its first ACC loss of the year.

The Blue Devils registered the doubles points to kick off the day but saw their host earn five-straight wins in singles action to steal the win.

The Fighting Irish saw Brandon Ancona and William Howells defeat Samuel Rubell and Andrew Zhang, 6-1, on court three to begin doubles play. Duke responded after the senior duo of Edu Güell and Luca Keist recorded the 6-3 win on court two. This set up a doubles point-clinching match on court one. Fortunately, the No. 55 doubles team of Garrett Johns and Sean Sculley posted a 6-4 victory to hand the Blue Devils the early 1-0 advantage.

In singles action however, Notre Dame took five of the six matches to pull off the come-from-behind win. Güell fell 6-3, 6-0 to Richard Ciamarra on court two to tie the overall match at 1-1. Axel Nefve then defeated Johns 6-1 in the opening set and 6-0 in set two to hand the home side a 2-1 edge. The next match to finished was on court six where Ancona defeated Andrew Dale 6-4, 6-4. The Fighting Irish then secured the win on court five when the match between Connor Fu and Faris Khan went final at 6-3, 6-3.

Notre Dame claimed one final match on court three following Tristan McCormick's 6-4, 6-4 victory over Sculley.

Duke's lone singles win came thanks to Keist who defeated Matthew Che 6-4 in set one before falling 7-6 in the second frame. With all the other matches finished, the result of this match came down to a super tiebreaker in which Keist won 10-7.

The Blue Devils are back in action Sunday when they travel to Louisville, Ky., for a noon matchup with the Cardinals. Both live stats and live video will be available.

RESULTS
Singles (2,1,6,5*,3,4)
1. Axel Nefve (ND) def. Garrett Johns (DU) 6-1, 6-0
2. Richard Ciamarra (ND) def. Edu Güell (DU) 6-3, 6-0
3. Tristan McCormick (ND) def. Sean Sculley (DU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Luca Keist (DU) def. Matthew Che (ND) 6-4, 6-7, 10-7
5. Connor Fu (ND) def. Faris Khan (DU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Brandon Ancona (ND) def. Andrew Dale (DU) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles (3,2,1*)
1. Sean Sculley/Garrett Johns (DU) def. Tristan McCormick/Axel Nefve (NDMTEN) 6-4
2. Edu Güell/Luca Keist (DU) def. Richard Ciamarra/Matt Gamble (NDMTEN) 6-3
3. Brandon Ancona/William Howells (NDMTEN) def. Samuel Rubell/Andrew Zhang (DU) 6-1

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