April 18, 2009
TAMPA, Fla. – On an upset-ridden day at the men’s BIG EAST Championship, the Irish dropped a close match to the home-standing University of South Florida Bulls, 4-1 at the USF Varsity Courts. After losing the doubles point, the Irish dropped tough singles matches at the second, fourth and sixth positions in a match that saw all six singles matches go to a third set.
The 28th-ranked Irish move to 13-11 on the season and will face top-seeded Louisville in the BIG EAST Championship third-place match at noon tomorrow, April 19 on the USF Varsity Courts. Fifth seeded DePaul knocked off Louisville, 4-3, to set up a DePaul-USF Championship match at 9:00 a.m.
USF claimed the doubles point with wins at second and third doubles. 31st-ranked Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) and Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan) put the Irish up 1-0 with an 8-2 win at first doubles over Lucas Jovita and Thomas Estrada. Then, at second singles, Mahmoud Hamed and Jamal Adderley defeated Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) and Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian) 8-4 to tie the doubles match. At third doubles, Santiago Montoya (Austin, Texas) and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) fell behind Yannick Yoshizawa and Wael Kilani by a 7-3 margin. Montoya and Stahl then held on Montoya’s serve and broke Yoshizawa to cut USF’s lead to 7-5. But the four-game deficit was too much to overcome and the Bulls broke on Stahl’s serve to claim the doubles point.
The Bulls took a 2-0 lead when Estrada downed Davis at sixth singles. Davis battled back after dropping the first set, 6-1, to take the second set 6-3. Estrada then won the third set, 6-1, to make it 2-0 on the overall scoreboard. At second singles, Kilani then beat Havens in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to give USF a 3-0 lead.
Needing a win to keep the match going, Watt found himself tied with Hamed in the third set, 5-5. He subsequently held serve and then broke Hamed for the win, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5. It was the freshman’s team leading 17th win of the season. Stahl, Helgeson and David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) battled to continue the match, but USF’s Adderley beat Stahl at fourth singles to clinch the win. Helgeson’s match at first singles versus Jovita (6-4, 4-6, 1-1) and Anderson’s match, which he was leading 6-3, 6-7(5-7), 4-3 at fifth singles, versus Romain Derridder were both recorded as unfinished.
Notre Dame’s match versus the 23rd-ranked Cardinals of Louisville, to be played at tomorrow at noon on the USF Varsity Courts, sets up a chance for the Irish to avenge a recent loss to the Cardinals, as UofL claimed a 4-3 home win over the Irish on April 11. A recap and a box score of the third-place match will be posted on und.com, while a fully updated bracket will be available at www.bigeast.org.
USF vs. Notre DameApr 18, 2009 at Tampa, Fla.
#41 USF 4, #28 Notre Dame 1
Singles competition1. #29 Brett Helgeson (UND) vs. #90 Lucas Jovita (USF) 6-4, 4-6, 1-1, unfinished2. #117 Wael Kilani (USF) def. Stephen Havens (UND) 6-4, 2-6, 6-33. Casey Watt (UND) def. Mahmoud Hamed (USF) 6-4, 1-6, 7-54. Jamal Adderley (USF) def. Daniel Stahl (UND) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-45. David Anderson (UND) vs. Romain Deridder (USF) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 4-3, unfinished6. Thomas Estrada (USF) def. Tyler Davis (UND) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
Doubles competition1. #31 Brett Helgeson/Tyler Davis (UND) def. #40 Lucas Jovita/Thomas Estrada (USF) 8-22. Mahmoud Hamed/Jamal Adderley (USF) def. Stephen Havens/Casey Watt (UND) 8-43. Wael Kilani/Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) def. Santiago Montoya/Daniel Stahl (UND) 8-5
Match Notes:South Florida 13-8; National ranking #41Notre Dame 13-11; National ranking #28Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,2,3,4)
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