Oct. 28, 2002
MADISON, WIs. – Notre Dame junior tri-captain Luis Haddock (Caguas, Puerto Rico) lost in the singles quarterfinals of the OMNI HOTELS Midwest Championships on Monday morning in the Nielsen Tennis Stadium. Haddock was the lone remaining Irish player in the indoor tournament of the top singles and doubles players in the midwest region. The loss completes the fall season for Notre Dame, which will be back in action Jan. 16-19 in the prestigious National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. before beginning dual-match play on Jan. 24 against Indiana in the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Haddock, the fourth seed in the tournament, lost 6-3, 6-4 to the sixth seed, 52nd-ranked Michael Calkins of Illinois, in a quarterfinal match. The Irish junior finished the fall with an 11-3 mark, including 3-1 against players ranked in the national top 70. Haddock continued his pattern of strong fall play, improving to 32-7 in his career in first-semester action.
Four other Irish players participated in the singles main draw of the Midwest Championships. Junior tri-captain Matthew Scott (Oakton, Va.), ranked 85th and seeded 12th, reached the round of 16 before losing to the third seed, #44 Phil Stolt of Illinois. Sophomore Brent D’Amico (Castle Rock, Colo.) was the only other Notre Dame player to win a match in the main draw, but he then fell to the fifth seed, #51 Aleksey Zharinov of Minnesota. Sophomore Jimmy Bass (Bronxville, N.Y.) and freshmen Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif.) and Eric Langenkamp (Scarsdale, N.Y.) each won a pair of matches before losing in the final round of qualifying.
In doubles, Haddock and Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) won two matches to advance to the round of 16 before losing. Senior Jake Cram (Littleton, Colo.) and sophomore Paul McNaughton (Hinsdale, Ill.) gave a scare to the event’s top-seeded team, 12th-ranked Thomas Haug and Avery Ticer of Minnesota, before dropping an 8-6 decision. Scott and D’Amico nearly pulled off an upset of the fourth-seeded team in the first round, but lost 8-5 to Illinois’ Stolt and Brian Wilson, ranked 44th in the nation.
Notre Dame participated in four tournaments this fall: the Homewood Suites Fall Tribe Classic, the Tom Fallon Invitational, the Harvard Fall Invitational, and these regional championships. In the spring, the Irish will face a slate featuring 13 NCAA qualifiers from a year ago. Notre Dame also will participate in the Blue/Gray National Tennis Classic for the 14th consecutive season and will try to defend its title in the BIG EAST Championship. In 2002, the Irish were 23-7 and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1994.
The OMNI HOTELS Midwest Championships are one of nine regional championships sponsored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The event features a 64-player singles qualifying draw followed by a 64-player singles main draw and 64-team doubles main draw.
OMNI HOTELS Midwest Championships
SINGLES
Quarterfinals
[6] #52 Michael Calkins (Illinois) d. [4] Luis Haddock (ND) 6-3, 6-4