Oct. 6, 2006
Tulsa, Okla. – University of Notre Dame senior Stephen Bass moved into the consolation quarterfinals of the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on Friday. Irish junior Sheeva Parbhu was not as fortunate and dropped his second round consolation match.
Bass (Bronxville, N.Y./Iona Prep School), ranked No. 21 in the preseason ITA poll, defeated No. 23 Michael Kokta of Baylor in straight sets, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Bass now advances to play No. 44 Peter Rodrigues of Duke in the consolation quarterfinals. Rodrigues got past No. 32 Andreas Siljestrom of Middle Tennessee State, 6-4, 7-5.
With his victory, Bass improved to 3-3 this season and 76-38 for his career.
Parbhu (Omaha, Neb./Millard North H.S.), ranked No. 20 in the preseason ITA poll, dropped a heart-breaking, three-set match to No. 65 Steven Moneke of Ohio State, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6. Parbhu, who dropped to 4-3 this season and 69-18 for his career, lost a match after winning the opening set for the second consecutive day. He entered this season with a career mark of 55-2-4 in such circumstances and actually had a 33 match-winning streak when winning the opening set snapped yesterday (dated back to Mar. 11, 2005).
This is the first of three national championship events during the 2006-07 collegiate tennis season. Two others are the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the season-ending NCAA Championships in May in Athens, Ga.
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