Feb. 23, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Junior Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif./Servite H.S.) rallied from dropping the first set to win a third-set tiebreaker over Brian Compton at No. 6 in the final match on court to hand the 24th-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team (10-2) a 4-3 road triumph against #46 Michigan State (8-3) Tuesday afternoon in the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. The Irish are now unbeaten in their only two road contests of the season.
“This was a great college tennis match,” said Irish head coach Bob Bayliss. “Their courts are lightning fast, and we really had trouble adapting to them. We were on our heels the whole time, and I have to give them [Michigan State] a lot of credit; they played really well. They were really ready to play, and they thought they had a chance to win the match. It was good for us to find a way to win.”
Notre Dame held a 3-2 lead with just two contests remaining on the courts, but MSU had won the opening set in both of those matches, at Nos. 5 and 6. The Spartans then evened the score when Joseph McWilliams downed Notre Dame sophomore Irackli Akhvlediani (Vienna, Austria/Vienna International School) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) at No. 5 to put the fate of the match in the hands of the No. 6 players. McWilliams improved to 8-2 this spring.
The No. 6 contest was between two players who have been accustomed to prevailing in tight matches with the team outcome on the line. Buchanan had claimed a three-setter to clinch Notre Dame’s 5-2 win over Northwestern on Friday, while Compton had triumphed in three-set matches with the score tied 3-3 to hand MSU victories against Western Michigan and #19 Arkansas. The Irish junior, who lost in his only other career time as the last match on court with the team score knotted at 3-3, got an early break in the third set, and appeared to be on the way to an easy final-frame victory when Compton began cramping. But the Spartan fought back to even the match at 2-2. Buchanan broke again and led 5-3 with Compton serving to stay in the match. At 30-30 in that game, the Irish junior missed a routine ball, which allowed the Spartan to hold serve. Buchanan then served for the match but could not come through, and the match was destined for a final-set tiebreaker. In that tiebreaker, he went up 2-1 early and then won consecutive points after the score was tied 4-4. On his first match point, Buchanan had a short forehand volley to win the match, but he put it into the net. Leading 6-5, the Irish junior rifled a groundstroke low to the feet of a volleying Compton, and the MSU rookie could not get it up over the net, giving Buchanan the 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) victory.
Buchanan is 2-0 in three-set contests with the team outcome undetermined this season after winning just twice in six opportunities in that situation during the first half of his collegiate career. The victory was the team-leading 24th singles triumph (in 28 matches) for Buchanan, who is now 8-2 in dual-match action. He moved to 14-1 in matches away from home this season and rallied to win after dropping the opening set for the first time in 2004-05. Buchanan is unbeaten in a trio of three-set affairs this season, and he is 15-1 vs. players from the Midwest Region. He has clinched four of Notre Dame’s 10 victories, after notching just three career clinching wins prior to this season. Buchanan also improved to 19-5 in sets decided by two games or fewer.
Trailing 1-0 after the doubles portion of the match, the Irish got on the board quickly, as freshman Sheeva Parbhu (Omaha, Neb./Millard North H.S.) dropped just a single game in defeating Adam Monich 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4. The Irish rookie improved to 21-5 this season, including 9-1 in dual-match action, while the MSU freshman lost for the first time in seven matches this dual-match season.
Sophomore Stephen Bass (Bronxville, N.Y./Iona Preparatory School) then gave Notre Dame its first lead by downing Cameron Marshall 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2. Marshall won the first three games of the match, but Bass then proceeded to win 12 of the final 13 to win his fourth consecutive match and move to 17-8 this season.
Another sophomore, Barry King (Dublin, Ireland/Gonzaga College), put the Irish within a point of victory by beating Nick Rinks 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 at No. 3. The Irishman, who moved up to a career-high national singles ranking of 100th earlier on Tuesday, extended his winning streak to six matches and improved to 17-5.
Down 3-1, MSU began to rally when Andrew Formanczyk completed a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory over senior co-captain Brent D’Amico (Castle Rock, Colo./St. Stephen’s Episcoapal School [TX]) at No. 1.
The Spartans began the match by sweeping the Irish in the doubles contests. First off the court was the No. 3 match, where Marshall and Michael Flowers beat Buchanan and King 8-4. Formanczyk and Rinks, the 26th-ranked team in the nation, clinched the match’s initial point by beating D’Amico and sophomore Ryan Keckley (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph’s H.S.) by the same score at No. 1. Compton and Monich completed the sweep by upsetting Parbhu and junior Eric Langenkamp (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale H.S.), who had earlier in the day earned their first career national ranking (60th), 8-5 at No. 2.
The victory was the 16th in a row for Notre Dame against Michigan State, as well as the eighth straight in East Lansing, though five of those contests have been 4-3 affairs. In the last Irish trip to the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility, the match also came down to the final match on court with the score tied 3-3, as Luis Haddock won a third-set tiebreaker against Formanczyk to hand his team a victory.
The match was the 74th all-time meeting between Notre Dame and Michigan State, tying the Spartans with Northwestern as the most-common opponents in the 83-year history of the varsity Irish program. Notre Dame now has 42 victories against MSU, the fourth-highest total against a single school, behind the Irish win totals vs. Purdue (48), Marquette (45), and Wisconsin (43).
The Irish improved to 9-1 this season against lower-ranked teams and came back to win the team match after losing the doubles point for the third time in five opportunities this season.
Notre Dame improved to 4-0 against Big Ten Conference foes this season, having already defeated Indiana (5-2), Wisconsin (6-1), and Northwestern (5-2).
Notre Dame will return to action this weekend, when it travels to #2 Virginia (8-1), the runner-up in last weekend’s USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship, for a 1 p.m. (EST) contest in Charlottesville.
#24 Notre Dame 4, #46 Michigan State 3
Singles
No. 1 Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) def. Brent D’Amico (ND) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
No. 2 Stephen Bass (ND) def. Cameron Marshall (MSU) 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 #100 Barry King (ND) def. Nick Rinks (MSU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
No. 4 Sheeva Parbhu (ND) def. Adam Monich (MSU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 5 Joseph McWilliams (MSU) def. Irackli Akhvlediani (ND) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
No. 6 Patrick Buchanan (ND) def. Brian Compton (MSU) 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
Order of Finish: 4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 6*
Doubles
No. 1 #26 Formanczyk/Rinks (MSU) def. D’Amico/Ryan Keckley (ND) 8-4
No. 2 Compton/Monich (MSU) def. #60 Eric Langenkamp/Parbhu (ND) 8-5
No. 3 Michael Flowers/Marshall (MSU) def. Buchanan/King (ND) 8-4
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2