March 28, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Irish men’s tennis team snapped a two-match losing streak with a 6-1 win over BIG EAST rival South Florida on Saturday afternoon inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion. The 27th-ranked Irish move to 10-9 on the season while South Florida, the ITA’s 40th ranked team, is now 10-6 on the year.
Notre Dame swept doubles play and also got singles wins from David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich), Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman), Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan) Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) and Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West). The win was Notre Dame’s fourth win in the all-time series as the Bulls have never beaten the Irish. The win also pushed Notre Dame’s home record to 6-3 on the year, including a 6-1 mark in their last seven home matches.
At first doubles, 25th-ranked Helgeson and Davis took out South Florida’s 27th-ranked team of Thomas Estrada and Lucas Jovita to clinch the doubles point. The match was tied at 4-4, but Helgeson and Davis took four of the next five sets to secure the victory.
At third doubles, Stahl teamed with Anderson to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead in doubles play as the duo dominated Wael Kilani and Yannick Yoshizawa, 8-1. It was Stahl’s first career dual season doubles match while it also marked Anderson’s first doubles win of the dual season.
At No. 2 doubles, Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian) and Watt jumped out to a 6-2 lead on Mahmoud Hamed and Jamal Adderlay, but the USF tandem fought back to tie the score at 7-7. With the doubles point already decided, Watt and Havens took the tiebreaker, 7-4, to give Notre Dame the doubles sweep.
At fifth singles, Anderson beat Romain Deridder, 6-1, 6-2 to push Notre Dame’s overall lead to 2-0. With the win, Anderson evened his dual season singles record to 5-5.
At No. 4 singles, Stahl downed Adderley, 6-2, 6-2 to give the Irish a 3-0 lead in the match. Stahl fell behind early in the second set, 1-2, but won five straight sets to take the match. Stahl is now 9-7 on the dual season in singles play, including a 3-0 mark at fourth singles.
At No. 2 singles, Kilani got the Bulls on the board as he was able to overcome Havens, 7-5, 6-0. But at sixth singles, Davis clinched the match for the Irish with a win over Estrada, 6-0, 6-4. With the win, Davis moved his singles record to 2-4 on the dual season.
At third singles Watt added to the Irish lead with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Hamed. The Irish freshman now stands at 14-4 in dual season singles play, including a 7-0 mark in his last eight starts. At first singles, 22nd-ranked Helgeson defeated 70th-ranked Jovita to complete the 6-1 Irish victory. Helgeson won a close first set, 7-6 (7-3) and took the second, 6-2.
The Irish close out their regular season home schedule tomorrow, March 29 versus ninth-ranked Illinois at 1:00 p.m. Live scoring of the match will be available through und.com by accessing the link on the men’s tennis schedule page. Recaps and box scores of both matches will also be posted on und.com
South Florida vs. Notre Dame Mar 28, 2009 at Notre Dame, Ind.
#27 Notre Dame 6, #40 South Florida 1
Singles competition 1. #22 Brett Helgeson (UND) def. #70 Lucas Jovita (USF) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 2. #95 Wael Kilani (USF) def. Stephen Havens (UND) 7-5, 6-0 3. Casey Watt (UND) def. Mahmoud Hamed (USF) 6-3, 6-3 4. Daniel Stahl (UND) def. Jamal Adderley (USF) 6-2, 6-2 5. David Anderson (UND) def. Romain Deridder (USF) 6-1, 6-2 6. Tyler Davis (UND) def. Thomas Estrada (USF) 6-0, 6-4
Doubles competition 1. #25 Brett Helgeson/Tyler Davis (UND) def. #27 Lucas Jovita/Thomas Estrada (USF) 8-5 2. Jamal Adderley/Mahmoud Hamed (USF) vs. Stephen Havens/Casey Watt (UND) no result 3. Daniel Stahl/David Anderson (UND) def. Wael Kilani/Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) 8-1
Match Notes: South Florida 10-6; National ranking #40 Notre Dame 10-9; National ranking #27 Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,4,2,6,3,1)
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