Sept. 18, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team had its first doubles success of the young season on Saturday, going 6-4 in partnered play at the Courtney Tennis Center in the Tom Fallon Invitational. The Irish, who had three players go perfect on the day, also went 6-4 in singles matches and will complete action in their lone home tournament of the fall season on Sunday.
Notre Dame won three of five in singles against both Maryland and Drake to improve its record to 32-12 in the TFI. In doubles, the Irish were just 2-9 on the first two days, but they went 3-1 against Drake and 2-1 vs. Maryland on Saturday, while also winning one of three contests vs. traditional doubles power Purdue.
One of the highlights of the day was an easy victory by Eric Langenkamp (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale H.S.) against Maryland’s No. 1 singles player from last spring, senior Troy Demers. The Irish junior was victorious 6-2, 6-1 to improve to 4-0 in the Tom Fallon Invitational.
Sophomores Stephen Bass (Bronxville, N.Y./Iona Preparatory School) and Ryan Keckley (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph’s H.S.) and freshman Andrew Roth (Houston, Texas/Tenney School) all were victorious in singles before winning a pair of doubles matches on Saturday.
Bass remained perfect on the tournament, having gone 4-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles. He defeated Drake’s No. 4 player from a season ago, Sergi Vila, 6-4, 6-2 in singles before seeing his first doubles action of 2004-05. For the first time as a collegian, he teamed with his brother, senior Jimmy Bass (Bronxville, N.Y./Iona Preparatory School), and they defeated Vila and Dalibor Davic 8-5. The elder Bass also had a win in singles, downing Josh Brauser of Maryland 6-2, 7-5.
Stephen Bass then paired with Keckley for an 8-2 win over Jack Frankowicz and Jonathan Tishler, who played No. 3 for Drake last spring.
Keckley reversed his fortunes after going just 1-4 (1-2 singles, 0-2 doubles) in the first two days of the TFI. He beat Tishler – who played No. 6 for the Bulldogs in ’04 – in a match tiebreaker, 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (10-5). Keckley did not play a match tiebreaker in 20 singles matches as a rookie, but it was his third of the Tom Fallon, and he had lost the previous two. Keckley actually took on Frankowicz and Tishler twice on Saturday, as he first teamed with rookie Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, Neb./Millard North H.S.) for a 9-7 win over the Bulldog duo. Parbhu had little trouble with Frankowicz – who played No. 3 for Drake a season ago – in singles action, winning 6-1, 6-3.
Roth downed Maryland’s No. 4 player from last season, Scott Fink, in a match tiebreaker, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6) before teaming with sophomore Irackli Akhvlediani (Vienna, Austria/Vienna International School) to down Terrapins Josh Brauser and John O’Rourke 9-7. Roth and junior Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif./Servite H.S.) then beat the Purdue pair of Eric Hodgman and Matt Zollman 8-3.
Buchanan is now 3-0 in doubles in the tournament, as he first paired with sophomore Barry King (Dublin, Ireland/Gonzaga College) on Saturday to register a tiebreaker victory over Dave Reichsfield and Mike Coleman of Maryland 9-8 (8-6).
The final day of competition, Sunday, will have play beginning at 9 a.m. (EST) and ending around 1 p.m. at the Courtney Tennis Center, with all five teams seeing significant action. The Irish may again split their roster into two groups – ND Blue and ND Gold – meaning Notre Dame players will be on the court virtually constantly.
The Tom Fallon Invitational is named after legendary former Irish tennis coach Tom Fallon, who compiled a 514-194 (.726) record in 31 years leading the program, winning the 1959 national championship. He was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Hall of Fame in 1988. Fallon began the tradition of a fall tennis season, starting the Irish Invitational in 1970. The tournament was renamed in his honor when he retired in 1987 and is being played for the 36th consecutive fall. The TFI features a “hidden dual” format, in which teams play simulated dual matches against each other, but no team scores are recorded. All individual results are counted for ranking purposes.
Tom Fallon Invitational – Saturday Results
Singles
Ian Bliss (M) d. Irackli Akhvlediani (ND) 6-3, 6-2
Eric Langenkamp (ND) d. Troy Demers (M) 6-2, 6-1
Andrew Roth (ND) d. Scott Fink (M) 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6)
Jimmy Bass (ND) d. Josh Brauser (M) 6-2, 7-5
Mike Coleman (M) d. Nick Chimerakis (ND) 6-2, 6-4
Stephen Bass (ND) d. Sergi Vila (D) 6-4, 6-2
Sheeva Parbhu (ND) d. Jack Frankowicz (D) 6-1, 6-3
Dalibor Davic (D) d. Patrick Buchanan (ND) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8)
Ryan Keckley (ND) d. Jonathan Tishler (D) 6-4. 1-6, 1-0 (10-5)
Chris Leuth (D) d. Brandon Pierpont (ND) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles
Ian Bliss/Troy Demers (M) d. Brent D’Amico/Eric Langenkamp (ND) 9-8 (4)
Barry King/Patrick Buchanan (ND) d. Dave Reichsfield /Mike Coleman (M) 9-8 (8-6)
Irackli Akhvlediani/Andrew Roth (ND) d. John O’Rourke/Josh Brauser (M) 9-7
Ryan Keckley/Sheeva Parbhu (ND) d. Jack Frankowicz/Jonathan Tishler (D) 9-7
Stephen Bass/Jimmy Bass (ND) d. Dalibor Davic/Sergi Vila (D) 8-5
Ryan Keckley/Stephen Bass (ND) d. Jack Frankowicz/Jonathan Tishler (D) 8-2
Dalibor Davic/Sergi Vila (D) d. Jimmy Bass/Nick Chimerakis (ND) 8-4
Colin Foster/Paul Rose (P) d. Eric Langenkamp/Brent D’Amico (ND) 9-7
Chris Cozad/Filip Koziell (P) d. Barry King/Sheeva Parbhu (ND) 8-3
Andrew Roth/Patrick Buchanan (ND) d. Eric Hodgman/Matt Zollman (P) 8-3