Oct. 25, 2002
MADISON, Wis. – Three University of Notre Dame men’s tennis players won a pair of matches before losing in the final round of qualifying Friday in the OMNI HOTELS Midwest Championships. Sophomore Jimmy Bass (Bronxville, N.Y.) and freshmen Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif.) and Eric Langenkamp (Scarsdale, N.Y.) each won a singles match on Thursday and one on Friday, falling one win short of earning one of the eight qualifying spots into the main draw. Five Irish singles entrants, as well as four doubles teams will participate in main-draw action beginning Saturday morning.
After being sidelined in the first three tournaments of the fall due to injury, Bass defeated Will Wange of DePaul 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 on Thursday before topping Wisconsin’s David Hippee 6-3, 7-6 (12-10) on Friday morning. He then dropped a tough three-set decision to Michigan State’s Cameron Marshall 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. Prior to the defeat, Bass held a perfect 6-0 combined record in collegiate action. In 2001-02, he was 2-0 in singles play and also won both of his doubles tilts.
Buchanan beat Butler’s Peter Voelz 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) on Thursday and then defeated Illinois’ Conner Murnigham 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Buchanan, like Bass, was a set shy of qualifying for the main draw before falling 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Tommy Dennis of Western Michigan.
Langenkamp’s nine singles victories this fall lead the team. He downed Toledo’s Todd Wojtkowski 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday and defeated David Anving of Michigan 7-5, 7-5 on Friday before losing in the qualifying round.
Five Notre Dame players earned automatic entrance into the 64-player singles main draw. Senior tri-captain Brian Farrell (Lilburn, Ga.), who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury last February, will return to the court for the first time in eight months on Saturday, taking on Louisville’s Octavian Nicodim at 8:00 a.m. At the same time, junior tri-captain Matthew Scott (Oakton, Va.), ranked 85th in the nation in singles, will face Cleveland State’s Jay Tee and sophomore Brent D’Amico (Castle Rock, Colo.) will square off against qualifier Dennis in an attempt to gain revenge for his teammate’s defeat. Junior tri-captain Luis Haddock (Caguas, Puerto Rico), who is 8-2 this fall in singles including a 3-0 mark against players ranked in the national top 75, is slated for a 9:30 a.m. match against Indiana’s Jakub Praibis. Junior Nicolas Lopez-Acevedo (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) will take on South Bend native and Penn High School graduate Troy Havens of Purdue at 10:30 a.m. Havens topped Lopez-Acevedo in a match tiebreaker when the two met in last month’s Tom Fallon Invitational at Notre Dame.
In doubles action, four Irish teams will be in the 64-team main draw. Senior Jake Cram (Littleton, Colo.) and sophomore Paul McNaughton (Hinsdale, Ill.) will team together for the first time to face the tournament’s top seed, Minnesota’s12th-ranked team of Thomas Haug and Avery Ticer, at 2:30 p.m. Buchanan and junior Ben Hatten (Potomac, Md.) also will be paired together for the first time when they take on Pramod Dabir and Conner Murnigham of Illinois at 3:30 p.m. Scott and D’Amico are slated to challenge Brian Wilson and Philip Stolt of Illinois, the 44th-ranked team in college tennis, at 5 p.m. and Haddock and Lopez-Acevedo will face Pete Rose and Johan Bergenas of Iowa 30 minutes later.
The OMNI HOTELS Midwest Championships are one of nine regional championships sponsored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. This tournament continues through Tuesday, Oct. 29 and the singles finalists and doubles champion will earn berths into the main draw of the second leg of the collegiate tennis grand slam, the OMNI HOTELS National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, slated for Nov. 7-10 in Dallas.
OMNI HOTELS Midwest Championships
Singles Qualifying — First Round (Thursday)
Patrick Buchanan (ND) d. Peter Voelz (Butler) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
Jimmy Bass (ND) d. Will Wange (DePaul) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Eric Langenkamp (ND) d. Todd Wojtkowski (Toledo) 6-3, 6-1
Singles Qualifying — Second Round (Friday)
Buchanan (ND) d. Conner Murnigham (Illinois) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
Bass (ND) d. David Hippee (Wisconsin) 6-3, 7-6 (12-10)
Langenkamp (ND) d. David Anving (Michigan) 7-5, 7-5
Singles Qualifying — Qualifying Round (Friday)
Tommy Dennis (Western Michigan) d. Buchanan (ND) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Cameron Marshall (Michigan State) d. Bass (ND) 6-7, 7-5, 6-4
Clay Estes (Minnesota) d. Langenkamp (ND) 6-1, 6-0