No. 1 Wake Forest Stays Perfect, Defeats Notre Dame on the Road

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – In the first of four-consecutive road ACC matches, the No. 1-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team took down No. 61 Notre Dame, 4-2, Friday evening inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion.

After the Demon Deacons (25-0, 7-0 ACC) dropped their first doubles point of the season, the team bounced back in singles and earned four wins to remain perfect on the year.

Wake Forest is one of just two schools that remain unbeaten in ACC play, along with NC State. Additionally, the win on Friday extended the program record for most-consecutive wins to open a season.

After Notre Dame extended its lead to 2-0, sophomore Luca Pow continued his dominant collegiate career with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Peter Nad on court four. The Englishman now has a team-high 18 wins this season to just two losses. Additionally, he is on a 13-match winning streak dating back to Feb. 2.

Freshman standout Joaquin Guilleme remained perfect in his collegiate career as he earned a hard-fought, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Kyran Magimay in sixth singles. It marked his seventh singles win of the season.

Not long after Guilleme's match-tying win, the Demon Deacons took the lead for the first time following a 7-5, 6-4 victory from graduate student Ioannis Xilas over Yu Zhang on court two. Xilas ranks second on the team with 14 singles wins this season to just four losses.

Senior Luciano Tacchi clinched the match with a three-set win (6-3, 5-7, 7-5) on court three over Chase Thompson. He saved a match-point before he brought his win total to 12 on the season, the third-most on the team. Of note, Wake Forest is a combined 89-27 in singles as a team this campaign.

With the win, the Deacs improved to 14-3 all-time against the Irish and have won 14-consecutive matches in the series dating back to 2015.

How It Happened

Notre Dame took the doubles point with wins on courts one and three.
- Pow/Tacchi came close to a victory on two, leading 5-2, before the match was abandoned.
Pow was the first Demon Deacon to go up a break in singles on court four, shortly followed by Tacchi on three.
- Notre Dame held the advantage on five, but the remaining three courts were on-serve early on.
Wake Forest quickly shifted the momentum as they held break advantages on courts three, four and six with the other three courts on-serve.
Tacchi (6-3), Pow (6-4) and Guilleme (6-3) simultaneously took their respective first-sets.
The Irish took the first set on court one after a close tiebreak.
Capalbo gave Wake Forest its much-need fourth first-set on court six.
On court two, Xilas battled to a 7-5 first-set victory as the Deacs took five of the six opening sets.
Guilleme was forced into a third set on court six.
Notre Dame went up 2-0 following a win on court one, but Pow got one back for the Deacs right after with a 6-4, 6-4 win on court four.
Tacchi and Capalbo were forced into third sets on courts three and five, respectively.
Wake Forest took a 3-2 lead with back-to-back victories from Guilleme (6-3, 1-6, 6-3) and Xilas (7-5, 6-4).
Capalbo went up a break in the third set and Tacchi saved a match point as Wake Forest remained in control.
The Argentine came up big for the Demon Deacons and won his match, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, which gave Wake Forest its 25th-consecutive win.

Singles Results
1. No. 33 Sebastian Dominko (ND) def. No. 6 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) 7-6(6), 6-2
2. No. 67 Ioannis Xilas (WFU) def. Yu Zhang (ND) 7-5, 6-4
3. Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. Chase Thompson (ND) 6-3, 5-7, 7-5
4. Luca Pow (WFU def. Peter Nad (ND) 6-4, 6-4
5. Franco Capalbo (WFU) vs. Jameson Corsillo (ND) 6-4, 4-6, 5-2, unfinished
6. Joaquin Guilleme (WFU) def. Kyran Magimay (ND) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3

Order of finish: 1, 4, 6, 2, 3

Doubles Results
1. Dominko/Thompson (ND) def. No. 40 Suresh/Robertson (WFU) 6-3
2. No. 6 Tacchi/Pow (WFU) vs. Corsillo/Zhang (ND) 5-2, unfinished
3. Llorens/Nad (ND) def. Capalbo/Xilas (WFU) 6-4

Order of finish: 1, 3

From Coach Bresky
"Another tough road battle in ACC. Credit to Notre Dame, they played really well and they have a very good team. We lost our first doubles point of the year. We're missing a couple of guys so we're facing a lot of adversity, which is excellent for us. I knew we'd fight back in singles like the champions our guys are. We're happy to pull it out, get a win and head off to Louisville for our next test on Sunday."

Next Up
The Demon Deacons will continue their road stretch as they head to Louisville for a Sunday clash with the Cardinals.

The match with Louisville is slated for 12 p.m. and will be shown via Track Tennis with live results here.

Follow the Deacs:
GoDeacs.com | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

No. 1 Wake Forest Stays Perfect, Defeats Notre Dame on the Road

Next Event

Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Franco Capalbo

Joaquin Guilleme

Luca Pow

DK Suresh Ekambaram

Luciano Tacchi

Ioannis Xilas

Wake Forest Athletics