Dec. 10, 2002
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Two of Notre Dame’s captains are listed in the men’s tennis midwest region rankings in singles, while an Irish doubles team also earned mention in the rankings released today by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Junior Luis Haddock (Caguas, Puerto Rico/Notre Dame H.S.) is 10th, while classmate Matthew Scott (Oakton, Va./International School of Paris), ranked 85th in the preseason national rankings, is 13th. In doubles, Scott and sophomore Brent D’Amico (Castle Rock, Colo./St. Stephen’s Episcopal School) are 14th. The team and individual national rankings will be released on Jan. 13 and the Irish will open their spring season Jan. 16-19 at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic before starting dual-match play Friday, Jan. 24 against Indiana at 4:00 p.m. in the Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Haddock was 11-3 this fall with three wins over top-75 players. He reached the quarterfinals in the Omni Hotels Midwest Championships and improved his career fall record to 32-7. Last year, he was 27-6 and peaked at 83rd in the national singles rankings. Haddock notched wins over #51 Aleksey Zharinov of Minnesota, #72 Scott Mayer of Purdue, and #47 Jonathan Chu of Harvard this fall.
Scott, who was ranked 21st in the region at the end of last season, was 5-8 this fall, dropping four contests in match tiebreakers. He advanced to the round of 16 in the Midwest Championships before losing to Illinois’ Phil Stolt, who is ranked second in the region. A year ago, Scott was 32-5, including 24-3 in dual matches.
D’Amico and Scott teamed up for only two matches this fall, splitting a pair of contests. The Irish pair won a match in the Homewood Suites Fall Tribe Classic and then lost to an Illinois team in the first round of the Midwest Championships.
Illinois, which was the top-ranked team in the region a year ago en route to eliminating the Irish in the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, has four competitors listed among the top five in singles. Amer Delic, Stolt and Brian Wilson hold the top three spots, while Mike Calkins is fifth. Ohio State’s Jeremy Wurtzman is fourth.
Calkins and Delic are No. 1 in doubles, followed by Martinez/Barriga of Northern Illinois, Axler/Schaechterle of Northwestern, Conley/Nicodim of Louisville, and Forber/Van Wasbeek of Northern Illinois.
Illinois will visit the Eck Tennis Pavilion on Jan. 29, while Northwestern will come to Notre Dame on Feb. 22.