Feb. 13, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Fighting Irish men’s tennis team saw their comeback bid fall just short as the Michigan Wolverines earned a narrow 4-3 win on Saturday evening inside the Michigan Varsity Tennis Center. Notre Dame fell behind 0-2 and 1-3 but rallied to force a 3-3 tie, only to see the Wolverines edge the Irish in the third set of the night’s final singles match.
Michigan jumped out to a 1-0 lead by winning all three doubles matches. At No. 1 doubles the Wolverine team of Jason Jung and Evan King defeated Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan) and Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland), 8-3. At No. 2 doubles, George Navas and Mike Sroczynski downed the Irish tandem of Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian School) and Niall Fitzgerald (Wicklow, Ireland/Blackrock College), 8-4. Also, at No. 3 doubles, Michigan’s Chris Cha and Chris Madden took out David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman), 8-3.
The Wolverines extended their lead to 2-0 when Navas earned a 6-1, 6-0 win over Fitzgerald at No. 4 singles. Notre Dame then got on the board when Anderson won in straight sets over Cha at No. 6 singles 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Dating back to March 28 of last season, Anderson is 9-1 in his last 12 dual season singles starts (two matches unfinished).
Michigan quickly re-established a two point cushion with a win by 73rd-ranked King over 93rd-ranked Havens at No. 2 singles 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
The Irish fought back at No. 1 singles where 18th-ranked Watt defeated 50th-ranked Jung. Watt took the first set 6-3 and then fought off a comeback bid by Jung to close out the second set 7-6 (7-4). Watt had been leading the second set 5-4 but then had to hold serve to tie it at 6-6 before prevailing in the tiebreaker.
Notre Dame then tied the overall match at 3-3 on the strength of a hard-fought three set win by 95th-ranked Stahl at No. 3 singles 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Stahl held serve at deuce to claim the clinching game in the third set.
Seventy-fourth ranked Blas Moros (Boca Raton, Fla./Pine Crest School) fought off two double match points in his third set but he was outlasted at No. 5 singles by Madden 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 and the Wolverines escaped with the 4-3 win.
With the win, 36th-ranked Michigan moves to 3-3 on the year and the 35th-ranked Irish fall to 3-4. The Irish will look to even their record in their next match, which will be at 24th-ranked Washington on Saturday, Feb. 20.
Box Score
SinglesNo. 1 - No. 18 Casey Watt (ND) d. No. 50 Jason Jung (U-M) - 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)No. 2 - No. 73 Evan King (U-M) d. No. 93 Stephen Havens (ND) - 6-1, 4-6, 6-2No. 3 - Daniel Stahl (ND) d. Mike Sroczynski (U-M) - 6-2, 3-6, 6-3No. 4 - George Navas (U-M) d. Niall Fitzgerald (ND) - 6-1, 6-0No. 5 - Chris Madden (U-M) d. No. 74 Blas Moros (ND) - 6-3, 3-6, 6-2No. 6 - David Anderson (ND) d. Chris Cha (U-M) - 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
DoublesNo. 1 - Jason Jung/Evan King (U-M) d. Tyler Davis/Casey Watt (ND) - 8-3No. 2 - George Navas/Mike Sroczynski (U-M) d. Stephen Havens/Niall Fitzgerald (ND) - 8-4No. 3 - Chris Cha/Chris Madden (U-M) d. David Anderson/Daniel Stahl (ND) - 8-3
Order Of CompletionDoubles -- 1, 3, 2Singles - 4, 6, 2, 1, 3, 5*
–ND–