April 12, 2008
Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Notre Dame men’s tennis team continued to struggle as the season winds down. The #33 ranked Irish dropped their sixth match out of their last seven, this time falling to #15 Michigan 6-1.
Michigan jumped out quickly on the Irish as they were able to capture all three doubles matches for the first point of the match.
On No. 2 doubles Santiago Montoya and Andrew Roth were never able to get anything going. They were defeated, 8-4, by the #14 ranked team of Jason Jung and Mike Sroczynski. Brett Helgeson and Sheeva Parbhu weren’t much more successful as they were knocked off by the tandom of Matko Maravic and Andrew Mazlin, 8-5.
With the point already clinched, Michigan was able to clinch the sweep of doubles in what was a very close match at the No. 3 doubles match. The team of Tyler Davis and Stephen Havens were beaten by Chris Madden and George Navas, 8-7 (10-5).
The Irish would get on the board in singles competition right away, however, as Daniel Stahl was able to take down Navas in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5 at No. 6 singles. However, the early singles momentum was quickly thwarted as the Wolverines would go on to take the next X matches from Notre Dame.
Michigan’s Sroczynski was the first to get the Wolverines back on track as he defeated Andrew Roth in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4 singles. The Wolverines would add another straight sets victory after that as Mazlin was able to take down Stephen Havens, 7-5, 6-4 on court 3.
Notre Dame would continue to battle in the remaining matches, despite the quick 3-1 deficit as they would take the remaining three matches to three sets.
On No. 2 and No. 5 singles the Irish jumped out to a one set lead in each. Parbhu dominated the first set against Jung on court two taking it 6-3, however, he would be countered in the second set, dropping it 2-6. The final set was fought tooth and nail between the two, as they would go to a tie-break to determine the point. Parbhu jumped out to a 6-3 advantage in the tie-break before dropping the final five points as Jung was able to come back and secure the victory, (3-6, 6-2, 7-6(8-6))
On court five, David Anderson was able to take the first set from Peter Aarts by the score of 6-4. However, the Wolverines’ Aarts was able to regain control of the match and take the remaining two sets for the match victory, (4-6, 6-3, 6-4)
At the No. 1 singles position Helgeson and Maravic battled each other right down to the final point. After dropping the first set handily, Helgeson rebounded well and took the second set to even the match. Unfortunately, as has been the case recently, the Irish were unable to get over the hump as Maravic came back and took the third set and locked up the match, (6-1, 4-6, 6-4).
The loss drops the Irish record to 11-10 as they head into their final match before the BIG EAST Tournament.
The next match for Notre Dame will be on Sunday, April 13 at 1:00 p.m. (ET), as they do battle with the #37 ranked Cardinals of Louisville. The match is scheduled to be played outdoors at the Courtney Tennis Center, weather permitting. It will be the final home match for senior’s Sheeva Parbhu and Andrew Roth.
-ND-