April 10, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Fighting Irish men’s tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to BIG EAST foe Louisville on Saturday afternoon at the Courtney Tennis Center. With the loss, Notre Dame, which was playing in its first home outdoor match since 2008, moves to 11-11 on the season while sixteenth-ranked Louisville improves to 17-5.
Louisville jumped out to a 1-0 lead after earning wins at first and second doubles. At second doubles, Austen Childs and Viktor Maksimcuk put the Cardinals up 1-0 by defeating Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan H.S) and Niall Fitzgerald (Wicklow, Ireland/Blackrock College) 8-3. Davis and Fitzgerald held an early 3-1 lead but dropped the next seven games to lose the match. Then the 25th-ranked team of Simon Childs and Alejandro Calligari clinched the doubles point by downing Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian School) and Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) at No. 1 doubles, 8-2.
At No. 3 doubles the Irish team of David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) took on Louisville’s Sumit-Prakash Gupta and Robert Hall. Anderson and Stahl took a 4-1 lead but Gupta and Hall won the next two games to cut the lead to 4-3. The Irish then took four of the next six games to earn the win, 8-5.
Louisville took a 2-0 lead when Simon Childs downed Stahl at third singles 6-0, 6-3. Then Anderson fell to Calligari 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4 singles, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
With the remaining four matches still close, Maksimcuk clinched the victory for Louisville by edging Havens at No. 2 singles. Maksimcuk took the first set 6-3. Havens then rebounded to take a 2-1 lead in the second set and built his lead up to 5-3. But Maksimcuk won the next two games to tie it at 5-5 and he eventually won the set 7-6 (7-3) to secure the overall win for Louisville.
Samuel Keeton (Kansas City, Mo./The Pembroke Hill School) got the Irish on the board at No. 5 singles with a three set win over Hall 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3. At No. 6 singles, Blas Moros (Boca Raton, Fla./Pine Crest School) wrapped things up with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win over Andrew Carter.
Before the match, Irish head coach Bobby Bayliss was honored for recently notching his 700th career win. Bayliss is now one of four active Division I men’s coaches with at least 700 wins and he stands in eighth place on the men’s all-time career wins list (now 703-308-1) in 41 seasons as a head coach at Notre Dame, MIT and Navy.
Bayliss and the Irish return to the courts at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14 when they play host to Ball State in their final home match of the regular season.
Notes
Notre Dame now leads the all-time series with Louisville, 8-5 … since 2005, the teams have met nine times, with Louisville winning five of those matches (including each of the last three) … the Irish have faced a ranked opponent in 16 of their 22 matches thus far (the Campbell/ITA rankings slot the top-75 teams) … 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 703-308-1/41 seasons).
Louisville vs. Notre Dame
Apr 10, 2010 at NOTRE DAME, Ind.
#16 Louisville 5, #36 Notre Dame 2
Singles
1. #30 Austen Childs (UL) def. #29 Casey Watt (ND) 6-3, 7-52. Viktor Maksimcuk (UL) def. Stephen Havens (ND) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)3. Simon Childs (UL) def. #91 Daniel Stahl (ND) 6-0, 6-34. Alejandro Calligari (UL) def. David Anderson (ND) 6-1, 6-35. Samuel Keeton (ND) def. Robert Hall (UL) 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-36. Blas Moros (ND) def. Andrew Carter (UL) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. #25 Simon Childs/Alejandro Calligari (UL) def. Stephen Havens/Casey Watt (ND) 8-22. Austen Childs/Viktor Maksimcuk (UL) def. Niall Fitzgerald/Tyler Davis (ND) 8-33. David Anderson/Daniel Stahl (ND) def. Sumit-Prakash Gupta/Robert Hall (UL) 8-5
Match Notes
Louisville 17-5; National ranking #16Notre Dame 11-11; National ranking #36Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,2,1,5,6)
–ND–