Courtesy: Duke Photography Junior David Goulet

NOTRE DAME, IND. - The eighth-ranked Duke men’s tennis team fell to 11th-ranked Notre Dame, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon at the Eck Pavilion. The loss drops the Blue Devils even on the season at 2-2, as both losses have come this weekend on the road to top-15 ranked teams.

The Blue Devils found themselves down 1-0 going into singles play, as the Irish took doubles victories at the No. 2 and 3 spots. The fourth-ranked duo of senior Joey Atas and junior David Goulet posted a win at the No. 1 spot, defeating 11th-ranked Ryan Keckley and Sheeva Parbhu, 9-7, but two Blue Devil duos would come out on the bottom end of close matches to give Notre Dame the point.

Singles competition proved to be battle after battle between nationally ranked players, as Notre Dame came out on top. Fourteenth-ranked Stephen Bass defeated No. 80 senior Peter Rodrigues at the No. 1 spot (7-6 (7-4), 6-2), while 30th-ranked Sheeva Parbhu defeated 100th-ranked Atas (6-1, 6-3).

Goulet posted Duke’s lone singles win at the No. 5 position, defeating Barry King, 6-4, 7-5 (7-5), as 84th-ranked freshman Dylan Arnould lost a hard-fought two-set battle to Keckley (7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6) and 54th-ranked sophomore Kiril Dimitrov suffered a loss at the No. 4 spot to Brett Helgeson (6-2, 6-3). Freshman Aaron Carpenter was defeated in a three-set battle at the No. 6 slot by Andrew Roth (6-7, 6-4, 6-1).

Duke will return home to host No. 51 Penn on Feb. 9 at 12 p.m. before traveling to Chicago, Ill., for National Team Indoors on Feb. 16-19.

Complete Results - No. 11 Notre Dame (ND) 6, No. 8 Duke (D) 1

Singles
1. #14 Stephen Bass (ND) d. #80 Peter Rodrigues  (D) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
2. #30 Sheeva Parbhu (ND) d. #100 Joey Atas (D) 6-1, 6-3
3. Ryan Keckley (ND) d. #84 Dylan Arnould (D) 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6)
4. Brett Helgeson (ND) d. #54 Kiril Dimitrov (D) 6-2, 6-3
5. David Goulet (D) d. Barry King (ND) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
6. Andrew Roth (ND) d. Aaron Carpenter (D) 6-7, 6-4, 6-1

Doubles
1. #4 Goulet/Atas (D) d. #11 Keckley/Parbhu (ND) 9-7
2. King/Helgeson (ND) d. Rodrigues/Arnould (D) 8-6
3. Bass/Roth (ND) d. Samuelson/Dimitrov (D) 9-7

No. 11 Notre Dame: 4-1 (0-0 BIG EAST)
No. 8 Duke: 2-2 (0-0 ACC)

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