March 20, 2009
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The men’s tennis team was defeated by Boise State in second round action at the 2009 Blue Gray National Tennis Classic. With the loss, Notre Dame moves to 9-8 on the season.
Notre Dame, currently ranked 26th, dropped the doubles point, as 22nd-ranked Boise State earned wins at first and second doubles. At first doubles, Notre Dame’s 25th-ranked team of senior Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) and sophomore Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan) were defeated by Boise State’s 68th-ranked team of Kean Feeder and James Meredith, 8-6. At second doubles Boise State clinched the point as Stanley Sarapanich and Clancy Shields defeated Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland), 8-3. The match at third doubles between Notre Dame’s Niall Fitzgerald (Wicklow, Ireland) and Matt Johnson (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) and Boise State’s Blane Shields and Matt Solomon was abandoned with the point already decided.
22nd-ranked Helgeson was downed by 38th-ranked C. Shields at first singles, 6-1, 6-1. Boise State’s third point came with a win at second singles as 78th-ranked Feeder beat Havens, 6-4, 6-0. Then at sixth singles, Boise State secured the win as B. Shields defeated Fitzgerald, 6-3, 6-3.
With the match decided, Watt, Daniel Stahl’s (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) and David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) all had their matches abandoned. Watt had been playing Meredith at third singles, Stahl lined up at fourth singles against Christian Hodel of Boise State and Anderson was playing Sarapanich at fifth singles.
The other three main draw winners on the tournament’s second day included Alabama (ranked 24), Auburn (30) and Tennessee (4).
The Irish play again at the Blue Gray National Classic tomorrow, March 21 versus Wisconsin at 9:30 a.m. (EST). Live scoring of the Blue Gray National Classic Invitational will be available through the Blue Gray’s official website: www.bluegraytennis.com, while daily recaps will be posted on und.com.
NOTES: 2009 marks the 60th year of the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic … the Irish have taken part in the classic every year since 1991 … Notre Dame now holds a 40-23 all-time record at the event … the Irish are three-time champions, having won the tournament in 1993, 2001 and 2007 … the Irish earned runner-up status in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2006.
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