April 7, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Fighting Irish men’s tennis team was defeated by second ranked Ohio State, 7-0, on Wednesday afternoon inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion. With the loss, Notre Dame drops to 11-10 on the season while the Buckeyes extend their unbeaten streak to 13 and now stand at 21-1 overall.
The Buckeyes got off to a fast start by capturing all three doubles matches. At No. 3 doubles, the OSU duo of Justin Kronauge and Balazs Novak downed David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman), 8-1. Ohio State then clinched the doubles point with a win at No. 2 doubles when Matt Allare and Shuhei Uzawa outlasted Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan H.S) and Niall Fitzgerald (Wicklow, Ireland/Blackrock College), 8-4. After falling behind 0-3, Davis and Fitzgerald rallied back to make it as close as 7-4 but could not complete the comeback.
At No. 1 doubles, Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian School) and Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) fell in an 0-2 hole to the 34th-ranked team of Chase Buchanan and Dino Marcan but fought back to take a 5-3 lead. But Buchanan and Marcan won the next five games to earn an 8-5 win.
Ohio State extended its lead to 2-0 when 12th-ranked Chase Buchanan downed 29th-ranked Watt 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles. The Buckeyes went up 3-0 behind an Allare win over Samuel Keeton (Kansas City, Mo./The Pembroke Hill School) at No. 5 singles 6-3, 6-0. OSU then clinched the win at No. 3 singles when 36th-ranked Kronauge downed 91st-ranked Stahl 6-0, 6-4. Stahl had led the second set 4-3 before Kronauge took the next three games to record the win.
At No. 2 singles Havens and Marcan split the first two sets with Havens taking the first, 6-3, and Marcan the second, 6-2. With the overall match decided, Marcan took the third set tie-breaker, 10-3. Moments later, Novak downed Anderson at No. 4 singles 6-2, 6-2.
Blas Moros (Boca Raton, Fla./Pine Crest School) played a tightly contested match at No. 6 singles versus Devin McCarthy. McCarthy took the first set 7-5. Then, in the second set, Moros took a 3-2 lead but McCarthy rallied back to take a 4-3 lead. Moros then tied it at 4-4, only to see McCarty take a 5-4 lead after the next game. Moros then held serve to tie the match at 5-5 and broke McCarthy to take a 6-5 lead. McCarthy answered with a break of his own to make it 6-6 and won the tiebreaker, 7-3.
The Irish return to the courts at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 10 for a home match against BIG EAST rival Louisville. Live stats of Notre Dame’s showdown with 16th-ranked UofL will be available through und.com.
Notes
Notre Dame now leads the all-time series with Ohio State 26-25 … Under current head coach Bobby Bayliss, the Irish boast a 15-7 record versus OSU, highlighted by a 14-match unbeaten streak put together by the Irish from 1989-2002 … But since that streak came to an end, the Buckeyes have won seven of the last eight meetings — including each of the past four. … The Irish are in the midst of a three match stretch in which they will have played #12 Texas A&M, #2 Ohio State and #16 Louisville in consecutive matches … the Irish have faced a ranked opponent in 15 of their 21 matches thus far (the Campbell/ITA rankings slot the top-75 teams) … Stephen Havens was named the BIG EAST Men’s Tennis Player of the Week on March 31 … Notre Dame’s win over MTSU (4-2) in the opening round of the 2010 Blue Gray tournament marked the 700th career win for head coach Bobby Bayliss (now 703-307-1/41 seasons).
Ohio State vs. Notre DameApril 7, 2010 at Notre Dame, Ind.
#2 Ohio State 7, #36 Notre Dame 0
Singles1. #12 Chase Buchanan (OSU) def. #29 Casey Watt (ND) 6-1, 6-12. Dino Marcan (OSU) def. Stephen Havens (ND) 3-6 (10-3), 6-2, 1-03. #36 Justin Kronauge (OSU) def. #91 Daniel Stahl (ND) 6-0, 6-44. #113 Balazs Novak (OSU) def. David Anderson (ND) 6-2, 6-25. Matt Allare (OSU) def. Samuel Keeton (ND) 6-3, 6-06. Devin McCarthy (OSU) def. Blas Moros (ND) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3)
Doubles1. #34 Chase Buchanan/Dino Marcan (OSU) def. Stephen Havens/Casey Watt (ND) 8-52. Matt Allare/Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) def. Niall Fitzgerald/Tyler Davis (ND) 8-53. Justin Kronauge/Balazs Novak (OSU) def. David Anderson/Daniel Stahl (ND) 8-1
Match NotesOhio State 20-1; National ranking #2Notre Dame 11-9; National ranking #36Order of finish: Doubles (,2,1,3); Singles (1,5,3,2,4)
–ND–