Oct. 21, 2006
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – All four Notre Dame doubles teams moved into the round of 32 with victories in the main draw of the 2006 ITA Midwest Championships on Friday. The Irish, along with Michigan, are the only two schools to have four doubles teams advance. In singles action, sophomore Santiago Montoya dropped his second round qualifying match.
The No. 2 seeded duo of senior Ryan Keckley and junior Sheeva Parbhu had little trouble with Branko Kuzmanovic and Kurt Zaske of Purdue, 8-4. The team, which was ranked No. 36 in the preseason ITA poll, will face Mikey Kantar and Raoul Schwark of Minnesota at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Senior Stephen Bass and junior Andrew Roth opened their action with an 8-4 victory. Bass and Roth moved past Drew Eberly and Justin Kronauge of Ohio State. The Buckeye squad was the No. 9 seed in the field. Bass and Roth will play Patrick Dwyer and Walker Grimes of Iowa on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
No. 12 seed sophomore Brett Helgeson and senior Barry King also came away with an 8-4 victory in their opening round match. The Irish duo advanced over Eric Fey and Adriano Liccardo of Illinois-Chicago. Helgeson and King will face Juan Gomez and Christian Tempke of Northwestern at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The fourth and final Notre Dame doubles squad to win was senior Irackli Akhvlediani and Montoya. They routed Brian Batt and Ted Dahama of Wright State, 8-1. Akhvlediani and Montoya move into the next round and play No. 14 seed David Bubenicek and Dara McLoughlin of Indiana at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Saturday will see the commencement of the 64-players singles main draw. King, Bass, Akhvlediani, Keckley, Helgeson and Parbhu will all open action. Parbhu and Bass are the highest seeded Notre Dame players. Parbhu is seeded No. 2 and Bass is No. 3. Helgeson and King are also seeded 17th and 19th, respectively.
ITA Midwest Championships (October 20)
Singles – Qualifying
Nick Boulieris (Marquette) def. [9] Santiago Montoya (ND); 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
Doubles – Main Draw
[2] Ryan Keckley/Sheeva Parbhu (ND) def. Branko Kuzmanovic/Kurt Zaske (Purdue); 8-4
Stephen Bass/Andrew Roth (ND) def. [9] Drew Eberly/Justin Kronauge (Ohio State); 8-4
[12] Brett Helgeson/Barry King (ND) def. Eric Fey/Adriano Liccardo (UIC); 8-4
Irackli Akhvlediani/Santiago Montoya (ND) def. Brian Batt/Ted Dahmas (Wright State); 8-1
Note: Numbers in brackets are seedings.
— ND —