Jan. 26, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 27th-ranked Notre Dame men’s tennis team slipped to 0-2 this season with a 6-1 loss to No. 24 Ohio State Sunday afternoon at the Jesse Owens West Recreation Center in Columbus, Ohio. Both Irish losses this season have come at the hands of Big Ten Conference opponents — Indiana handed Notre Dame a tough 4-3 loss on Friday at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Sophomore Brent D’Amico (Castle Rock, Colo./St. Stephen’s Episcopal School) provided the lone victory for the Irish, ousting OSU’s Dennis Mertens, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 3 singles. Notre Dame had opportunities to earn points in three other singles matches, but came up just short. Freshman Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif./Servite H.S.) dropped his second three-set match of the season, bowing to the Buckeyes’ Kevin McLean at No. 6 singles by a 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (11-9) count.
Both of Notre Dame’s ranked singles players started off well, but could not sustain their early success. Junior Luis Haddock (Caguas, P.R.), ranked 72nd in the nation, pushed Ohio State’s Vince Ng, the nation’s 45th-ranked player, to a first-set tiebreaker at No. 1 singles before succumbing, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0. Ng was coming off a win at the Milwaukee Classic, one of the nation’s premier college tournaments. Meanwhile, junior Matthew Scott (Oakton, Va./International School of Paris), who is ranked No. 119 in the country, led 5-4 in the first set of his No. 2 singles match with OSU’s Jeremy Wurtzman, but wounding up falling, 7-5, 6-3. Wurtzman is ranked seventh in the nation.
Notre Dame will return home to face its third consecutive Big Ten opponent when second-ranked Illinois comes calling Wednesday at 4 p.m. (EST) at the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The Irish and Fighting Illini met three times last season, with Illinois winning twice, including a 4-1 victory in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas.
— ND —
#24 Ohio State 6, #27 Notre Dame 1
Singles
#45 Vince Ng (OSU) d. #72 Luis Haddock (ND), 7-6 (7-3), 6-0
#7 Jeremy Wurtzman (OSU) d. #119 Matthew Scott (ND), 7-5, 6-3
Brent D’Amico (ND) d. Dennis Mertens (OSU), 6-3, 6-2
Ross Wilson (OSU) d. Brian Farrell (ND), 6-1, 6-2
Conor Casey (OSU) d. Eric Langenkamp (ND), 6-4, 6-4
Kevin McLean (OSU) d. Patrick Buchanan (ND), 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (11-9)
Doubles
Casey/Wilson (OSU) d. D’Amico/Scott (ND), 8-3
Green/Wurtzman (OSU) d. Farrell/Haddock (ND), 8-6
Contini/Ng (OSU) d. Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo/Paul McNaughton (ND), 8-1