Oct. 20, 2016
By Joanne Norell
COLUMBUS, Ohio – University of Notre Dame men’s tennis junior Brendon Kempin is into the final round of singles qualifying after picking up a pair of wins Thursday at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships at Ohio State’s Varsity Tennis Center.
Kempin, who is the No. 3 seed of the qualifying bracket, defeated Wisconsin’s Elliot Sprecher, 6-2, 6-1, and Youngstown State’s Thomas Rodrigues, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, to move into the third round Friday.
Junior Drew Dawson and sophomore Nathan Griffin also picked up first-round wins Thursday, but fell in the second. Freshman Conor Somers fell in the first round.
Play continues Friday with the third round of qualifying beginning at 8 a.m, ET. The first round of the singles main draw begins at 12:15 p.m., followed by a round of doubles slated for 4:30 p.m. Eight additional Irish players will take the court in both main draw singles and doubles Friday.
ITA Midwest Regional Championships presented by Oracle
Varsity Tennis Center
Columbus, Ohio
Oct. 20-24, 2016
Qualifying Singles Round 1
[3] Brendon Kempin (ND) def. Elliot Sprecher (WIS), 6-2, 6-1
Drew Dawson (ND) def. Omar Espinosa (TOL), 6-2, 6-2
Nathan Griffin (ND) def. Benjamin Slade (CSU), 6-2, 6-3
Thomas Rodrigues (YSU) def. Conor Somers (ND), 6-3 6-3
Qualifying Singles Round 2
[3] Brendon Kempin (ND) def. Thomas Rodrigues (YSU), 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Nathan de Veer (DEP) def. Drew Dawson (ND), 6-2, 6-2
Nathan Ponton (DET) def. Nathan Griffin (ND) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
— ND —
Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.