April 19, 2009
TAMPA, Fla. – Notre Dame came back from a three-match deficit versus 23rd-ranked Louisville in the BIG EAST Championship third place match, only to see the Cardinals snatch a 4-3 win at the USF Varsity Courts. The 28th-ranked Irish are now 13-12 on the season.
The Irish fell behind after doubles play, as they were unable to capitalize on the 1-0 lead 31st-ranked Brett Helgeson (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) and Tyler Davis (Nashville, Tenn./Father Ryan) gave them with an 8-4 win at first doubles over Simon Childs and Victor Maksimcuk. At third doubles, Austen Childs and Sumit-Prakash Gupta tied the match by defeating Santiago Montoya (Austin, Texas) and Daniel Stahl (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) 8-3. At second doubles, Casey Watt (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) and Stephen Havens (Cincinnati, Ohio/Hill Christian) fell behind to Louisville’s Alejandro Calligari and Robert Rotaru 7-6, but battled back to take an 8-7 lead. Louisville answered to tie the score at 8-8, forcing a tie-breaker that the Cardinals ultimately won, 7-2.
Louisville took a quick 3-0 lead on the Irish with wins at first and second singles. Louisville’s 31st-ranked Austen Childs beat Notre Dame’s 28th-ranked Helgeson 6-1, 6-2. Then at second singles, Havens fell to 79th-ranked Viktor Maksimcuk 6-3, 6-1.
At sixth singles, Davis got the Irish on the board with a win over Robert Hall 6-4, 6-3. With the win, he evened his sixth singles dual season mark at 4-4.
David Anderson (Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) edged the Irish closer with a win at fifth singles over Andrew Carter 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). In the second set tie-breaker, Anderson fell behind 0-2. He eventually tied it at 4-4 before taking the 7-5 win.
Watt then tied the overall match at 3-3 with a three-set win over Simon Childs, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. In addition to keeping Notre Dame’s comeback bid on track, Watt netted the 18th singles win of his rookie campaign. But the comeback fell just short as Stahl fell at fourth singles, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to Caligari.
Earlier in the day, USF defeated DePaul to win the 2009 BIG EAST men’s tennis championship by a score of 4-0.
The Irish will now wait to learn their NCAA Tournament fate, as first round matchups will be announced after the final conference tournaments are completed next weekend. The first and second rounds of the 2009 NCAA tournament will be held at campus sights on May 8-11.
Louisville vs. Notre DameApr 19, 2009 at Tampa, Fla.
#41 USF 4, #28 Notre Dame 1
Singles competition1. #31 Austen Childs (UL) def. #29 Brett Helgeson (UND) 6-1, 6-22. #79 Viktor Maksimcuk (UL) def. Stephen Havens (UND) 6-3, 6-13. Casey Watt (UND) def. Simon Childs (UL) 6-3, 4-6, 6-34. Alejandro Caligari (UL) def. Daniel Stahl (UND) 4-6, 7-5, 6-15. David Anderson (UND) def. Andrew Carter (UL) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)6. Tyler Davis (UND) def. Robert Hall (UL) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles competition1. #31 Brett Helgeson/Tyler Davis (UND) def. #82 Viktor Maksimcuk/Simon Childs (UL) 8-42. Austen Childs/Sumit-Prakash Gupta (UL) def. Stephen Havens/Casey Watt (UND) 9-8 (7-2)3. Alejandro Caligari/Robert Rotaru (UL) def. Daniel Stahl/Santiago Montoya (UND) 8-3
Match Notes: Notre Dame 13-11; National ranking #28Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,6,5,3,4)
–ND–