Feb. 4, 2007
The No. 11 Notre Dame men’s tennis team rode the momentum from earning the doubles point into a decisive 6-1 victory over the No. 8 Duke Blue Devils Sunday at Eck Tennis Pavilion. This was the second consecutive victory against a top-15 team, improving the Irish record to 4-1 on the year. Duke drops to 2-2 after its second consecutive 6-1 loss to a highly ranked opponent.
Senior Barry King (Dublin, Ireland) and sophomore Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, KS) outlasted Peter Rodrigues and Dylan Arnould 9-7 to even the doubles matches at one apiece after the #4 ranked team of Joey Atas and David Goulet for Duke defeated Notre Dame’s national #11 pairing of senior Ryan Keckley (South Bend, IN) and junior Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, NE) by the same score. In the decisive doubles match, senior Stephen Bass (Bronxville, NY) and junior Andrew Roth (Houston, TX) downed Samuelson and Dimitrov, again 9-7, to take the doubles point.
In singles, #30 Parbhu made quick work of #100 Atas, surging to a 5-0 lead in the first before completing a 6-1, 6-3 victory. Coach Bobby Bayliss focused on the importance of taking the second point for his team, “I think Sheeva Parbhu deserves a ton of credit for beating a very good player in Atas, who has beaten us all but one time we’ve faced him in dual matches. To win that decisively really put the pressure on Duke.’
Goulet participated in both of Duke’s match wins on the day, and pulled the match to within one for Duke by downing King 6-4, 7-6 in a closely contested match dominated by the servers.
Notre Dame earned their third point of the match when Helgeson overcame an early break in the second set to earn a 6-2, 6-3 victory over #54 Dimitrov. Bayliss was pleased with the win, describing it as “playing with some authority against a tough out who really makes you earn your points.”
After taking the first set tiebreak 7-4, #14 Bass clinched the match with a strong second set, riding a first-game break to a 6-2 victory over #80 Peter Rodrigues. Coach Bayliss noted that this was a nice way to avenge last year’s result, when Bass was the last man left on the court in Duke’s 4-3 victory.
In the last two matches on court, Notre Dame won a pair of marathon matches. After taking the first set tiebreak 9-7 against #84 Arnould, Ryan Keckley broke back at love to earn a second set tiebreak after dropping his serve at 5-5. He won his second tiebreak of the match to claim the 5th team point for the Irish. Keckley is now 13-2 in singles this season. In the only three-setter of the match, Andrew Roth overcame a one set deficit to outlast Aaron Carpenter 6-7, 6-4, 6-1, taking advantage of two breaks on Carpenter’s first two service games of the third.
Singles
1. Stephen Bass (ND) d. Peter Rodrigues (D) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
2. Sheeva Parbhu (ND) d. Joey Atas (D) 6-1, 6-3
3. Ryan Keckley (ND) d. Dylan Arnould (D) 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6)
4. Brett Helgeson (ND) d. Kiril Dimitrov (D) 6-2, 6-3
5. David Goulet (D) d. Barry King (ND) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
6. Andrew Roth (ND) d. Aaron Carpenter (D) 6-7, 6-4, 6-1
Doubles
1. Goulet/Atas (D) d. Keckley/Parbhu (ND) 9-7
2. King/Helgeson (ND) d. Rodrigues/Arnould (D) 8-6
3. Bass/Roth (ND) d. Samuelson/Dimitrov (D) 9-7
Notre Dame Defeats Toledo 7-0 in second match of doubleheader
Notre Dame finished Sunday’s double-header with a solid 7-0 victory versus Toledo. Underclassmen Santiago Montoya (Austin, TX) and Sean Corrigan (Lido Beach, NY) stepped up to help the Irish defeat the Rockets in an evening match, which capped off a 3-0 weekend for Notre Dame.
#30 Sheeva Parbhu battled back to overcome an early 3-0 deficit to take the No. 1 singles slot in Notre Dame’s second match of the day. After pairing with Ryan Keckley to win the No. 1 doubles match versus Toledo’s Mohammed Al Nabhani and Jared Miller, Parbhu continued his successful Sunday to end up 3-1 on the day. He is now 14-8 in singles this season, as well as 18-3 in doubles (4-2 in dual matches).
The Irish quickly and calmly took the doubles point, with #11 Keckley/Parbhu winning 8-2 over Al Nabhani/Jared Miller, Barry King/Brett Helgeson 8-4 against Travis Curran/Brian Rager, and Stephen Bass/Montoya 8-2 versus Keith Moran/Chris Clark to start the Irish at 1-0 against the Rockets.
Seniors King and Bass also finished strong in singles for the Irish, each going up 5-0 in the second set before wrapping up their matches. Bass beat Jared Miller 6-3, 6-0 in No. 2 singles, while King defeated Toledo’s Curran 6-2, 6-1. Bass is now 16-7 in singles for the season; King is 15-6 after splitting his two Sunday matches.
Freshman Sean Corrigan battled through a three set match to outlast Toledo’s Keith Moran 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. After falling behind 3-0 and eventually dropping the second set, he rallied to take the match in the third. Corrigan runs his record to 8-3 in singles for the season.
Brett Helgeson, a sophomore, beat Toledo’s Clark soundly in straight sets 6-0, 6-3 to win the No. 3 singles match, and complete a 6-0 weekend and advance to 13-4 in singles this season. Junior Andrew Roth persevered against Josh Moran 7-6, 7-5 in the No. 5 singles slot, avoiding his second three-setter of the day to move to 12-7 in singles this season.
Singles
1. Sheeva Parbhu (ND) d. Mohammed Al Nabhani (T) 7-5, 6-1
2. Stephen Bass (ND) d. Jared Miller (T) 6-3, 6-0
3. Brett Helgeson (ND) d. Chris Clark (T) 6-0, 6-3
4. Barry King (ND) d. Travis Curran (T) 6-2, 6-1
5. Andrew Roth (ND) d. Josh Moran (T) 7-6, 7-5
6. Sean Corrigan (ND) d. Keith Moran (T) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. Ryan Keckley/Parbhu (ND) d. Al Nabhani/Jared Miller (T) 8-2
2. King/Helgeson (ND) d. Curran/Rager (T) 8-4
3. Bass/Santiago Montoya (ND) d. Kevin Moran/Clark (T) 8-2