April 14, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 6 Notre Dame men’s tennis team cruised past No. 58 Louisville, 6-1, in its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. The Irish improve to 21-3 on the season, while the Cardinals drop to 8-14.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 1-0 lead after sweeping all three doubles matches. The Irish have secured the doubles point in all three matches since shuffling their lineup.
Senior Barry King (Dublin, Ireland) and junior Andrew Roth (Houston, TX) were the first off the court for Notre Dame. The duo breezed past David Simon and James McArthur, 8-1, at No. 3 doubles. King and Roth improved to 4-0 on the season and 3-0 in dual matches.
Senior Stephen Bass (Bronxville, NY) and senior Ryan Keckley (South Bend, IN) clinched he doubles point for the Irish. The tandem knocked off ninth-ranked Slavko Radman and Damar Johnson, 8-4. Bass and Keckley improved to 3-0 on the year, all in dual matches.
Junior Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, NE) and sophomore Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, KS) closed out the sweep with an 8-6 victory over Robert Rotaru and Chriss Herrlinger at No. 2.
The Irish put the match away with straight-set victories at No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. #114 Helgeson cruised past Kenneth Nordheim, 6-3, 6-1, King knocked off Rotaru, 6-3, 6-4, Keckley upended Simon, 6-2, 7-5 and Roth bested McArthur, 6-3, 6-2.
#9 Bass dropped his opening set against #60 Radman, 6-3, but rallied after taking the second set, 6-3, and the third set, super tiebreaker 10-8.
Johnson scored the Cardinals’ only point by defeating #51 Parbhu, 6-3, 4-6, (10-8) at No. 2 singles.
Notre Dame begins the BIG EAST Conference Championship later this week in Tampa, Fla.
#6 NOTRE DAME 6, #58 LOUISVILLE, 1
Singles
1. #9 Stephen Bass (ND) def. #60 Slavko Radman (UL) 3-6, 6-3, 10-8
2. Damar Johnson (UL) def. #51 Sheeva Parbhu (ND) 6-3, 4-6, (10-8)
3. #114 Brett Helgeson (ND) def. Kenneth Nordheim (UL) 6-3, 6-1
4. Barry King (ND) def. Robert Rotaru (UL) 6-3, 6-4
5. Ryan Keckley (ND) def. David Simon (UL) 6-2, 7-5
6. Andrew Roth (ND) def. James McArthur (UL) 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
1. Bass/ Keckley (ND) def. #9 Radman/Johnson (UL) 8-4
2. Parbhu/Helgeson (ND) def. Rotaru/ Chriss Herrlinger (UL) 8-6
3. King/ Roth (ND) def. Simon/McArthur (UL) 8-1
— ND —