Oct. 18, 2009
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Notre Dame men’s tennis player Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) won his singles match on Sunday morning to advance to the semifinals at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. In the quarterfinals, Watt defeated fifth-seeded Marek Michalicka of Wisconsin 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. He moves on to face Dennis Nevolo of Illinois with a place in the finals on the line.
Notre Dame’s doubles teams were knocked out of the main draw on Sunday in Round-of-16 action. Watt and junior co-captain Tyler Davis (Nashville, TN/Father Ryan) dropped an 8-5 decision to Czerwinski and Nevolo of Illinois. Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian School) and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) fell to Reitz and Sanborn of Northwestern by an 8-6 margin.
Watt is the eighth Irish men’s tennis player to make the semifinals at the event, dating back to Andy Zurcher’s semifinal appearance in 1990. Since 1990, Notre Dame has had four singles champions at the event, most recently Stephen Bass in 2005. Andy Zurcher (1993), Will Forsyth (1992) and David DiLucia (1990) also won the event for the Irish. In addition, Notre Dame has had five runners-up and four No. 1 seeds.
The Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships continue tomorrow, Oct. 19 at Michigan’s Varsity Tennis Center, with Watt’s semifinal match slated to begin at 9:00 a.m. Live Stats and video of selected indoor matches will be available through Michigan’s ITA Midwest Regional homepage: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/mtennis/specrel/101409aab.html. Recaps and results will also be posted on und.com.
— ND —